Night Rose
by beautiful-surreal
Summary: The face was heavily scarred and the man leered back at us, lifting an arm and resting it against the window separating the front from the back, a loaded gun aimed straight at us." A fanfiction about Hikaru and Kaoru and a woman only known as 'Night Rose
1. Rescued By who?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** This is a new story I'm writing, since I just _had_ to write something because I couldn't stop daydreaming about the Hitachiin twins. Well I hope you enjoy, and if you're a fan of Yugioh 5ds, please go to my profile and check out the story I've been writing about that as well. So enjoy! And don't forget to review. I'd like at least one review per chapter. Thanks all! Love you!

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It was just another limo ride to school when something went wrong. I was just looking out of the window while Hikaru was catching up on some homework he forgot to do yesterday. Not that it was that important. It had been pretty quiet when I suddenly noticed that we were going the wrong way. Something suddenly felt very off to me, and I moved slowly away from the window until I was closer to my brother. I touched the back of his hand lightly, while trying to identify the driver. I couldn't see his face from where I was sitting. Hikaru looked up at me, and he frowned when he saw the worried look on my face.

"Karou?" He whispered, leaning closer to me. "What's wrong?" I looked outside the window carefully. I didn't recognize where we were, and I tried to get a look at the driver's face in the rear-view mirror, but his cap was pulled down. I started to get goose bumps. I turned towards Hikaru, a little scared. He wrapped his arms around me instantly when he saw that face.

"Do you know where we are?" I asked him whispering, and he frowned- confused, looking around. Judging by his face when he looked back at me, he didn't have a clue either. "I know this isn't the way to school," I whispered. "-and I have a bad feeling about the driver…" Hikaru naturally then looked up at the driver, and I looked up with him- and froze in fear. Hiraku's arms stiffened around me as well.

The face I saw in the mirror was not one of our drivers, but could only belong to a member of one of the more brutal syndicates of the mafia around here. The face was heavily scarred and the man leered back at us, and then lifted an arm and rested it against the window separating the front from the back, a loaded gun aimed straight at us. Hikaru's grip tightened around me reflexively, and I held onto him in return. For some reason, I couldn't scream, my eyes wide with fear.

"**HYAH!!!!**" Hikaru and I jumped as we heard a yell, and the driver's window smashed, a heavy black combat boot connecting with the fake driver's temple, and Hikaru let me go and lunged forward to grab the gun and twist it away from us, and he yanked it out of his hand and leapt back to sit next to me, holding it as far away from us as he could while keeping a firm grip on it. I blinked, and discovered that I had gone completely rigid as Hikaru put his free hand on mine, aiming the gun towards the floor in case in went off.

The attacker who had broken through the driver's side window now had the phony driver subdued, or knocked out at least, and he must've somehow hit the brakes or something while doing so, because the car was now slowing to a stop and I saw a black-gloved fist holding something shaped remotely like a rock rise up and then speed back down, connecting with something with a bloody crunch, making me flinch on a gut reaction. Hikaru wrapped his free arm around me, gripping the handle of the gun more securely, and he was glaring towards the front of the car with what I'm sure was a protection instinct backing it up.

Then the figure straightened up, grabbed a hold of the wheel, stomped on the brakes, shifted the car into park, and turned around to look at us, and Hikaru and I gasped simultaneously. The dark-haired woman smirked emptily with a roll of her eyes back at us.

"Yeah, I'm a woman." She said with incredibly dry humor, her whole body tensed like a cat ready to spring. She got out of the driver's side door and opened ours, bending over a little to look in. Her eyes were brown, and somehow dancing with some sort of a light. Hikaru raised his arm and aimed the gun at her. She laughed dryly. "Very brave kid, but you don't know how to use it." She held her hand out towards us, and we stared at her in shock. How did she know that neither of us had ever held a gun before? "Give me the gun kid. We need to run, or the rest of the syndicate will be after us before long." I was completely shocked. How did she know _that?_ Hikaru gave it a split second's worth of thought before nodding curtly, and handing the woman the gun who racked it and stuck it in a sheath at her side. I noticed the she was completely dressed in black before Hikaru yanked me after him, and I stumbled out of the car.

The woman looked me up and down quickly, taking in the look on my face, and the way I was shaking. She looked up at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Frozen with fear?" she asked almost whimsically, and- stunned- I nodded. She smiled softly at me, kindness shining through her eyes. She reached out with her hand and I put my hand in hers. "Everything's going to be alright." She said reassuringly, and somehow- I felt myself trusting her. Suddenly her eyes sharpened, and she glared down the street at some heavily-set men running our way, crowbars in hand. Pedestrians screamed and got out of their way. She glanced over at Hikaru. "Can you run?" she asked, and when he nodded, she turned sharply around without letting go of my hand and bringing it over her shoulder, crouching a bit. "On you get." She said backing up, and she found my legs and lifted me onto her back. "Hold on." I put my arms over her shoulders, and she grinned at Hikaru. "Let's run."

She ran. Unbelievably fast for someone carrying someone piggyback, and I wasn't even bouncing while she did so. Even so, I held on a little tighter, because at the speed she was going at was enough to create a bit of wind. Hikaru was just managing to keep up, already breathing heavily.

"Nearly there!" she shouted over her shoulder to my brother, and I swore I could hear him sigh with relief. We rounded one more corner and stopped in front of a run-down hardware store, and without even taking me off her back, she knocked on the glass door hard three times, and a large shadow moved in front of it, and turned the lock, and it opened to show this portly, bald, happy-faced family man who frowned in concern as soon as he saw me and my brother. _He looks like a buddha. _I thought absentmindedly.He looked over us, and then back at the woman carrying me, all business.

"Place to hide?" he asked, and she nodded, handing me over to Hikaru, and we were both rather surprised at the turn of events. She turned to look at Hikaru, holding me up by the armpits. She draped on of my arms around his shoulders, and she grabbed Hikaru's arm and put it around my waist.

"Got him?" she asked, and I wondered why she asked that. I felt fine. Well, I couldn't feel my legs… She let me go, and I all but collapsed, holding onto Hikaru in surprise. My legs were completely dead. She turned to head back out.

"What is he?" the man in front of us asked, and I looked at his concerned expression. _What am I?_ I looked back at the woman, curiously. _What was that supposed to mean?_ She smiled beautifully at me, and I blinked. _Beautiful_. She looked over her shoulder at the man.

"Frozen with fear." She explained, and without another look, she ran back the way we came. The man nodded to where she had been, and stood behind us, ushering us in. we had no choice but to enter the dark room, the man shutting and locking the door behind us.

"Don't worry." The man said reassuringly behind us, placing a hand on our backs. "You're safe here."


	2. Instinct

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Thanks for reviewing you two. You know who you are. ;) I hope you find this chapter just as enjoyable as the first. Remember to review. *heart*

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I don't know why my instincts had told me to go where I had gone, but I did- and once I had seen that fancy limo and that imposter from the Sendo Syndicate pretending to be a limo driver and pointing that gun into the back, I knew I had to act. It was a matter of instinct, and before I knew it, I had put my foot through the window to his head and knocked him out and escaped with the two boys in the back. I always thought that twins were fascinating, though that wasn't the reason why I had saved them. I had felt like I had to, and now, I was facing off with four other members of the Sendo Syndicate, who I personally had a bit of a history with- so I definitely wasn't going to hold anything back when the fighting began. I took a mental inventory of what weapons I had on me, and how I would most likely use them, and the first man lunged.

When I fought, it was like I hadn't. I gave myself over to my instincts completely when I fought, and it was like I was a human weapon, a messenger of death or whatever you'd like to call me. I wasn't very aware of what I was doing. I didn't even really feel pain. While fighting, it would just feel like a bug bite. I would finish with who ever I fought and would walk away before I 'woke up'. Though I could only ever do that with people who were threatening me or someone I was looking after. I had heard that I was sort of a mysterious local hero, wherever I wandered. I looked after people my instinct told me to look after, and got rid of the ones out to get them. Though the thing was-

I had never asked for this life.

***

The man that the woman-who-had-saved-our-lives had taken us to led us to a back room, where it was lighter. It was a kitchen, which was also made into a bedroom. It was very homey, actually, and the man pointed to some cushions that were placed around a low dining table, and Hikaru pulled me over to them with little to no effort, since I was beginning to regain the feeling in my legs and I was able to help him carry me along. The man sat at what I assumed was the head of the table, and he looked at us and waited while we found our way to the floor.

"So how'd she find you?" I looked up at the man who was looking at Hikaru and I calmly, like it was a very common question to ask.

"How- how'd she find us?" Hikaru asked, sitting down next to me and rubbing his neck. The man nodded. "How do you mean?"

"How'd she save your life?" I stared at him with wide-open eyes. He smiled a little at us. I think he could tell we were somewhat afraid of him, having just met him, and having a man from some kind of a gang aim a gun at us when we had thought we were on our way to school. The man leaned back against the wall behind him, looking up at the ceiling. He sighed, and his eyes were unfocused, reflecting. "That 'Night Rose' saved my life two months ago. I was running from the Sendo Syndicate who were out for my blood because I had the nerve to run away from them." The man smiled bitterly with a frosted laugh. "They almost had me too, gun to my throat and everything, but then she came out of nowhere, and knocked the gun from his hand." I listened to his story in amazement, seeing everything he was describing in my mind. He looked at ceiling with a little more awe as he went on, and I assumed that 'Night Rose' was the woman who had saved Hikaru and I from that phony driver. "The way she fights is amazing…" He murmured respectfully. "She brought down more than one man that night without even looking to see where they were. When I asked her about it, she told me it was 'instinct', and that was all. She took me here without a word, and I've stayed here ever since. She found me a job, and she made sure I was safe- in return, she comes to me if she's injured, or if she has someone to hide and protect, like you two." He looked at us curiously, and I felt Hikaru perk up, watching him. I tensed a little myself. "You look richer than the others she's saved." He commented. "Where're you two from?"

I blinked, surprised.

"Who are _you?_" I asked without thinking, and blinked again. I hadn't been that blunt in awhile. The man across from us blinked, caught off guard. Then suddenly he rolled his eyes and slapped his palm to his forehead.

"Oh yikes." He said removing his hand and looking at us apologetically. "Sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself." He said extending his hand towards us. "You can call me Daisuke." Hikaru and I looked at his hand simultaneously, and looked up at each other before we both reached out and shook it together. Daisuke grinned, and tilted my head to the side curiously. He shook his head as if to say that he couldn't explain, but I could tell he found something funny- but I let it go.

"I'm Hikaru." My twin introduced himself next to me, both of us looking at Daisuke as if we could see right through him. He raised an eyebrow as if he was laughing at our antics.

"-and I'm Kaoru." I introduced myself after him, and right as we finished, there was a loud knock on the door, and the three of us froze, instinctually listening. The first knock was followed by two others and then silence. Daisuke got up and went to open it. I glanced over at Hikaru to catch his worried glance, and we crawled over to the doorway to hear what they were saying better through the dark.

"-not again… how can you not _feel_ that, Rose? You're bleeding pretty bad." They was a quiet laugh of slight surprise coming from the doorway, and I recognized the voice of the woman who had saved us.

"What? Am I really?" she paused, and I assumed that Daisuke nodded because she went on. "It's amazing how little I feel these things nowadays…now the bandages and such are in the bathroom, right? Is the water clean? What about the gauze?" I heard Daisuke tsk through the dark, as if he was shaking his head.

"Everything's clean Rose, you know me." Rose laughed lightly.

"Yeah, I guess I do know you." She said light-heartedly, and I wondered how a woman with a wound that sounded like that could be so lighthearted. "You've put my spare clothes in there right?"

"Right."

"Thanks Daisuke." Rose's voice was already walking away, and I heard a sliding door move shut. There was a brief second of silence, and I heard a worried sigh.

"Just take care of yourself Rose." Daisuke's footsteps turned and came our way, and we scrambled back to where we had been and checked each other out, and Hikaru quickly smoothed down my shirt before turning to face the door just as Daisuke walked in.


	3. Night Rose

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I create.

**A/N:** Enjoy.

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Inside the bathroom I locked the door and stared at my arm, turning the half-dead light on. The wound on my forearm looked terrible, blood dripping down past my wrist and everything, but the soft throbbing told me that it couldn't be very deep at all. It only looked bad, and I turned on the faucet, watching the water run for a few moments before taking a paper towel and wetting it under the water, then carefully cleaning my arm up around the wound, being careful to keep it level and turning the water off.

Once most of the blood had been mopped up, I threw it in the bin, and tore off a new dry one, and used it to soak up the excess liquid around the wound before I threw that one away and applied another directly to the wound to soak up the blood inside it. My eyes narrowed slightly, because I could feel the pain from that, but I needed to actually investigate how deep it was and if it needed any help to fuse together. It wasn't so deep that it wouldn't heal in a few days, but I decided that I should squeeze it shut and use some gauze and medical tape I found in the medicine cabinet to keep it that way until it healed. When that was done, I found a new ACE bandage in there and ripped off the plastic with my teeth and spat in the sink to get rid of the taste afterwards. I held one end down with the fingertips of that hand curling around to pin it down at the wrist, and I wrapped it tightly so that I could feel my arm gently pulse. It felt good to me, and I placed my hands on the edge of the sink and washed some of the blood down. Then turning the faucet off, I just stood there and thought.

My instincts had driven me to save those twins. It was funny, because before I had seen them, my instincts had told me that it was only one person I was saving until I had looked into the back of that limo. I smiled slightly into the basin of the sink. I hadn't ever really been that surprised before, and what's more… I felt that this time- there was something more important to me about them- something closer to my heart than the others I had saved before. It was like I had recognized their energy as the limo had passed me, even though I knew that I didn't know that they even existed before then. Normally, when I saved people, it was more like I was simply obeying orders from my instincts emotionlessly. This time, my heart had been burning.

I stared deeply into the basin, wondering what this was all about, but then I shook my head. I had been in here for so long that Daisuke would probably be coming along to check if I was dead or something. I quickly shed my dark clothes and tossed them in the hamper in the corner before turning to the more normal clothes sitting on top of the toilet. I let my black hair down from the ponytail it had been in and raked my fingers through it after changing to make sure it looked alright. I might be a fighter to be reckoned with, but I was still a girl. A very strong one too. I twitched a faint smile at myself in the mirror, and it lit up my brown eyes slightly, those eyes that still had that look of sadness in them that I somehow managed to chase away whenever I was with anybody else. Other than the gang members I was exacting my revenge upon. Then it was all anger and sadness and flames.

I sighed one last time looking into the dirty mirror and I hoisted a smile into place. Time to go and chat to those twins. I turned to the door and walked out, heading towards the light of the kitchen. Hopefully those two boys would give me a reason to end my confusion. Like why my heart had burned when I had saved them.

***

We were just telling Daisuke about how Night Rose had saved us when she walked into the room. Hikaru was asking Daisuke about what sort of Martial Art it was that Night Rose used, when I felt drawn to look to the doorway to the darkened room. My eyes widened when I saw what she had changed into, and how she looked when she entered the light.

She had more curves wearing those light blue jeans and black wife beater with a soft pink butterfly design on the front, and her hair was down. She was very pretty, but not like how other girls were. The girls I knew were fragile and thin, and had that general bambi feel to them. They felt easily breakable and were the type that relied on a man to keep them safe. That was the point of the Host Club. To let those sorts of girls fantasize about strong men keeping them safe and such.

But Night Rose. Looking at her gave me a feeling of awe as she stood there, leaning against the doorframe. She was completely different. She would most likely be the one to protect her man, instead of her man being there just to protect her. Her crossed arms were bare, and I could see that she had plenty of muscle while still looking feminine in a dominant sort of way. She had that way of holding herself that made one stop and look at her in admiration and awe. She definitely had a 'presence', and I could just tell that she had a will made of steel. Her eyes were a nice shade of brown, and they shone when she smiled.

"You done looking, Soft?" she smiled and said the word 'soft' like a name, and then I realized she was talking to me. My eyes widened and I flushed with embarrassment looking down at my lap, fidgeting. She laughed kindly, and sat down across the table from me, and I looked up and saw her shining brown eyes and brilliant smile. "Don't worry about it hun," she said with a wink, causing me to turn slightly pinker. "-I get it all the time. So Daisuke." She turned to look at her friend who turned slightly to face her. "What're we eating?" It was then that she placed her left arm on the table, and I noticed how well she had bandaged it. _She must have experience._ I thought, and it made me sad to think that any woman would have to go through so much to get so good at such a thing.

"I would like pizza, if you don't mind." I blinked and looked up at my brother- pulled out of my thoughts by what I would normally think what was a presumptuous announcement, but I couldn't remember what had been said before that. I was confused because I didn't know if anything else had been said between them. I looked between the three of them, trying to catch up on the conversation. Night Rose was facing Hikaru with both of her arms folded on the table, her portly friend Daisuke leaning against the wall behind him lazily. She was looking at my brother in such a penetrating way that looked like she was reading his soul. It made me feel uncomfortable, and I shifted a little on the pillow I was sitting on while Hikaru was lounging like he owned the place. She glanced my way and smiled, and it put me at ease instantly, for some reason. She leaned back against the wall, and propping one knee up, she rested her undamaged arm on it. She looked back at my brother coolly. I don't think she liked him very much.

"So." She said shortly, causing Hikaru to look back at her. "You two are brothers, obviously." She said, pausing and looking for a reaction. We just blinked simultaneously. She sighed. "Tell me about yourselves." She said, and I couldn't tell whether it was a question or an order. "What're your names?" She asked again, and this time more nicely when she noticed our lack of response. I was surprised, but I shifted forward and rested my forearms on the table. Hikaru looked at me, slightly surprised that I was making the first move. I smiled a small but sincere smile at the pretty woman across the table from me, and she looked like she forgot to breathe for a moment as she looked at me.

"My name is Kaoru. My brother is Hikaru, and I'm the younger of us." I smiled at her charmingly, and Hikaru smirked as her mouth opened slightly. "What's yours?" There was a pleasant moment of stillness in which I was leaning forward looking her in the eyes, Hikaru was leaning back on his hands and smirking and Daisuke was looking between her and I and starting to smile. Hikaru's grin grew wider, and she snapped out of it. My smile faded slightly as she leaned forward again, looking me in the eyes, and Hikaru's grin disappeared completely. _Eyes are the windows to the soul…_ I thought as we looked into each other's eyes, and it was completely true. I felt like I was getting lost in her brown eyes, and that I could see whatever she was thinking. She was absolutely captivating.

"So you're Kaoru…" she whispered, and the way she said it sent shivers down my spine- but somehow, it only drew me closer to her. The rest of the room seemed to fade away, and I was focused solely on her and her wondering, intense brown eyes- full of curiosity and insecurities. _Insecurities?_ I thought. _Why would a woman like her have any reason to be insecure?_ I looked at her, and she seemed to grow slightly worried. "Who are you?" she whispered even quieter than before, and I blinked, beginning to wonder about her. "How can make me feel this way…?"

"_Hel-_lo!? Earth to Kaoru! Where are you man? Floating around Mars?" Hikaru's voice broke me out of the daze I was in, and I blinked, suddenly noticing Hikaru was waving his hand in front of my face, and I turned to look at him, puzzled. He saw the look on my face and smiled with a gentle sigh, taking his hand back. "There you are man. Thought we lost you to La-La land for awhile there." I blinked at him.

"So, you want to go home right?" Night Rose interrupted our silence and we both looked at her when she asked the question, and her brown eyes were penetrating. Hikaru and I blinked at the same time, and I nodded hesitantly, keeping my eyes on her. I didn't quite know what to make of her, whether to be wary of her or not. She just kept drawing me in then shoving me out. It was like she didn't know how attractive she was. I blinked. _That could certainly be taken the wrong way…_ I thought. I didn't feel…anything romantic for her. She was just very interesting was all.

"Of course they want to go home, Rose." I turned my eyes toward Daisuke who laughed lightly at her, and Rose leaned back and made a face at him for the way he was talking. "They're teenage rich kids. Mansions and gold and high school is all they know." She looked at him strangely. So did we. _How the hell-_ I thought in somewhat pissed confusion. I didn't like his tone. ­_-does he know that?_ Rose rolled her eyes in what looked like minor irritation.

"Even a dirt poor child with only an older brother to look after him would want to go back to him. It doesn't matter how rich or poor you are, Daisuke. Home still means love." I wasn't too sure of what I saw, but when I looked at her when she was talking, I thought I saw something that looked like- pain- flash in her eyes when she said that. "No matter how big it is." She muttered the last part of her little speech, but I still heard it, since I was sitting closest to her. I looked at her in slight admiration. She was coming up with more and more things for me to think about by the second. I looked at Daisuke, and I was somewhat surprised to see him blinking in a surprised regret. At least, that's what it looked like.

"Rose." Daisuke said quietly, sadly putting a hand on her shoulder, and she shut her eyes, looking at her lap. "I'm sorry." She was at the door in seconds, having shrugged off Daisuke's hand and gotten up in a flash, heading to the outside door, and if I had blinked, I would've missed it.

I looked after her, wondering if I should go after her, but I stayed where I was. I couldn't go after her. 'Cause I didn't know her. I settled back into my cushion, and rested my hand back against my leg, when I had been about to reach out after her. _I don't know her._

"What's up with her?" Hikaru asked uncaringly from where he had his hands behind his head, lying on the floor. I looked down at him. _He's not very mature._ I reminded myself, and I looked over at Daisuke, and I blinked when I saw that his eyes were full of sorrow, looking through the door that Night Rose had gone. _He knows her._ I thought, slightly awed. _-very well. _He looked sadly over to where Hikaru had been sitting instead of lying, and then he looked at me, sighing.

"It's not for me to tell."

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**A/N:** Please review. So what did you think about this chapter? There were a lot of stops and starts in this chapter for me, so I hope it's flowing alright. Just wondering if I should put a time jump in here, or just leave this story on a linear story line...? What do you think?


	4. Lost

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Hey guys. Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I hope you enjoy this chapter. Reviews are welcomed warmly.

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I sat on the roof, looking at the stars, blinking back tears. _Everyone deserves a home…._ I thought, moisture from my eyes making wet trails down my cheeks and shining in the lamplight. _Everyone deserves to be loved…_ I closed my eyes against the dark, and flames danced against the inside of my eyelids. I choked against the smoke in my memory, and I forced my eyes to open, and I hugged myself a little tighter. _No one has to be alone…_ I tried to convince myself, and when I felt a teardrop land on the back of my hand, I wiped them away and thought of the twins downstairs. Kaoru and Hikaru. I had seen how they acted, looking around the room cautiously and Hikaru acting arrogant- and their uniforms screamed a single message at me. Rich teenagers going to Ouran Academy.

Ouran wasn't close. It wasn't close to where we were at all, actually. I sat up and looked slightly north of where the sun rises on the horizon. It was several miles to the east and slightly north of where we were. I worried my bottom lip, thinking about how I could get them there. Transportation wasn't easy to get a hold of around here, and the entire town was surrounded by forest. The easiest, and what would certainly be the most life-changing experience for the twins would be to be to go through the forest on foot. Unbidden, the image of Kaoru's face and his beautiful eyes came to mind, and I put my head in the palms of my hands. The boy confused me thoroughly, and I wasn't used to that.

_How is he able to make my heart skip a beat when he smiles?_ I thought. _How is he able to muddle me into a mess when I hardly even know him?_ I sighed and looked past the glow of the streetlamps to the stars in the night sky. _Why is he so beautiful?_

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Tamaki paced worriedly around the 3rd music room, hand to his chin, with a little stress cloud over his head. Mori stood next to Hunny, passive as usual, and Hunny was sitting in an expensive chair next to him, his eyes large and watery. Haruhi was leaning against a window frame in her usual boy's uniform, since she had decided that she liked it in the Host Club after Éclair had tried to steal Tamaki away from them, and she had won him back. Kyoya was tapping at his computer on a desk in the corner. In some way, everyone in the music room was worried in their own ways. They were worried because the twins hadn't shown up yesterday or this morning, and that wasn't like them.

Tamaki's pacing feet kept up a steady rhythm as he paced to one end of the room and back, frame rigid, and he would sigh almost every third turn like clockwork, and Haruhi watched him dully, her head following him back and forth with dull eyes. She was worried about the twins too, just as worried as Tamaki, but she had the complete opposite reaction to there absence that Tamaki had. Her frown would deepen every time she heard him sigh, and she looked out the window at the pink cherry blossoms and the blue sky.

"Where are they?" she sighed worriedly. The twins hadn't been at home during the time they weren't at school, and nobody knew where they were. Tamaki glanced up at the only girl in his club worriedly before looking back at his shoes. He sighed.

Kyoya had been trying to find them with his secret police, but so far, they couldn't be found. The only thing the police had been able to find was the limo that the twins had last been seen in, parked half in the road with the driver's window smashed in and the dead body of a member of the Sendo Syndicate with a bashed-in skull beginning to rot on the front seat in a remote small town. Nobody knew how the mafia member had managed to get that far without the twins noticing, but it looked like someone other than the twins had saved them.

The body had been taken to the morgue at one of the Ootori hospitals and examined. His skull had been bashed in with a rock, but judging by the location of the crater, his killer had known exactly where to hit to cause the most damage. So the killer had known what he was doing, and judging by the state of the car, he had been careful to keep the fight in the front seat, because there wasn't even a spot of blood in the back section of the limo, where the twins would have been sitting.

The twins' fingerprints were found on the door handles, indicating that they had acted of their own will to get out of the car. After that, science could tell them nothing more. Kyoya sighed, and ceased typing to look worriedly at his computer screen. There were no more hard facts after that, but he couldn't help thinking about the rumors he had uncovered in that area. There was something almost like a young legend about this person who was considered a hero that no one truly knew the identity of but the ones she had saved- but even those people gave a vague description. One thing was definite though. Kyoya's lips pressed together as he thought, trying to connect one story to another. The hero was a woman and fought like no one had ever seen before. So far, Kyoya knew only two people who could fight like that woman- if she was indeed real and not a myth- and Kyoya couldn't help it as his eyes slid over to rest on Mori and Hunny, both martial arts champions.


	5. Youta

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **Thanks for the review. Enjoy!

**2nd A/N:** Edited a little bit.

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The Hikaru and Kaoru had consented to let Night Rose lead them home after they had discovered that they had left their phones and wallets behind in their school bags in the limo yesterday. So now they were standing in front of a club on the edge of the forest, and they needed a place to sleep for the night, and something to eat. Midnight Rose looked up at the sign above the door that said 'The Rage' in neon lights. It was dark and the twins were slouching against each other, holding their stomachs and complaining about how hungry they were. Rose just turned them a deaf ear.

**Night Rose's POV**

I knew the man who ran and owned The Rage. He was an old friend of mine, and the first person I had ever saved. So he still owed me a few favors. I smiled slightly and sighed fondly, shaking my head a little. That boy did know how to get into trouble, and I was the one who always got him out of it. I turned and beckoned the twins to follow me, and I headed into the club.

We had been walking all day just to get to the edge of the forest, and now the boys' feet were very sore, they were tired, and we were all very hungry. So it was a relief when I saw Youta's club come into sight. The boys looked after me both curiously and warily when I turned back to look at them, and I went back, took their hands, and pulled them along after me. Soon enough, the sound of the loud pounding music in the painted black hallway was too loud to be heard over, and it was pulsating in the very center of my core.

Two men in black suits stood to either side of the only door in front of us, and when they saw us approach, they held their hands out for ID, looking very bored and as though they thought they were superior to us. I smiled kindly at them when I felt Kaoru's hand twitch in my hand and he actually started holding mine. I released Hikaru's hand in my left as I pulled up my right sleeve and showed the anterior of my forearm to the doormen, whose jaws dropped when they saw the mark on my there. I smiled at them sweetly and pulled my sleeve back down before either of the twins could get a chance to look at what was on my forearm.

The doormen bowed to me respectfully, and as they straightened, the one on my left pulled out a cell phone and shot off a quick text while the other one gaped at me and only looked away when I looked at him questioningly. Kaoru was still holding my right hand gently, and when I looked back to find Hikaru's hand, he yanked his hand out of my grip, so I shot him a warning look and took his wrist firmly. He tugged once, but didn't try again as my old friend walked into view through the door, smiled at me and waved for me to follow him. He glanced at the two boys behind me, but didn't pay them much attention as I followed him upstairs.

I could tell that Hikaru and Kaoru were intimidated by Youta because their rigidity and by the way I had to nearly pull them along. I knew why too. Youta was huge. I mean, like, really huge, and by that, I don't mean fat. The only reason I had had to save him the first time had been because his girlfriend had broken up with him just before he was attacked, and he had been heart-broken and weak from tears when the first man jumped him. I had come along by the time the seventh thug was in the area. I had gotten rid of them all but Youta, who had been unconscious by that time.

Youta was easily six-foot seven, and he had quite a muscular build filling him out, giving him a lot of 'presence' whenever he walked into a room. We reached another door by this time, and Youta held it open and gestured us all inside, shutting the door behind us and flicking the lights on to reveal a luxury suite, bed and all. It was quiet in here, although there was a window overlooking the dance floor of the club on the wall we had just entered through. Soundproofed to the ninth degree, as I knew Youta wouldn't have anything less if he could afford it. The club was full of gyrating bodies and flashing lights, and I looked out into neutrally. I had been out there before. I sighed, smiling a little.

"So how's my little savior doing, eh? Finally decided to stop by and pay me a visit, Rose?" Youta spoke glowing with affection as he snuck up behind me and gave me a hug from there. His voice was as sweet as honey and as clear as an actor trained to project his voice in a theatre several ceilings high. I smiled and snuggled into his embrace.

"I'm doing just fine Youta." I said warmly. He was like a brother to me. "How about yourself?"

**Kaoru's POV**

I couldn't help but stare. The man was huge, and both he and Rose acted like they knew each other since they were babies. His hair was a brownish blonde, and he had a brown right eye. I had yet to see his other eye, but I thought it was blue. Odd eyes weren't very common, but it did happen. People with odd eyes were somewhat a novelty in some places. Like people with birthmarks in their hair.

Hikaru and I stood together in a corner next to the bed, near the bathroom, neither of us making a sound. Rose and her friend hadn't noticed us yet; they were still hugging and talking to each other. Hikaru had just sat down on the bed, and I was moving to follow when Rose suddenly glanced over at us, and pulled her friend over to us by the hand. I looked at their joined hands and something panged softly in my chest area. I rubbed it absentmindedly and looked the man in the eyes. The right was brown and the left was green. _Meh, got the color wrong… not much of a difference._ I thought as Rose turned to the man slightly.

"Youta, these are the twins," she said, lifting her hand and pointing it at me. "Kaoru and Hikaru." She introduced, shifting her hand over to point at Hikaru when she said his name. I was stunned. She told us apart. I glanced over at Hikaru who looked just as stunned, and we looked at each other before I looked back at Rose who looked at us with a puzzled expression before continuing. "We've walked all the way from Daisuke's place, and these guys have clearly never walked that far in their lives, so-" she said, turning to look up at him as she spoke. Youta looked down at her, listening carefully to every word. From the look I saw in his eyes, the two of them were very close indeed. "-they need somewhere to put their feet up for the night, and all three of us need something to eat and a place to sleep tonight." Rose looked up at Youta with a trusting smile on her face. "Can you do that for me, Youta?" Youta looked at her with a bit of a sad smile, and the look on Rose's face dropped.

"You know I would love to, Rose, but business is- pounding, as usual," he said, looking out the window to the dance floor regretfully. "-but we're losing customers, and we need a new attraction to draw them in." He looked back at Rose gently, a question in his eyes. "We need just a few more, and putting you all up for the night would be no problem at all." There was a brief moment of silence when Rose looked up at her friend shrewdly. He smiled at her apologetically. "I know your talents Rose, and I know you can do that." Rose's lips pursed as he tried to persuade her, thinking. "The ropes would be hanging from the center of the ceiling, and you'd be out of their reach." Rose looked at him with an expression that said 'keep talking'. "Just once, and you can come right back inside." Rose nodded, signaling that she had heard enough, and she looked at his knees for a moment, thinking. She looked back up.

"Ok." Youta smiled widely and wrapped his arms around her, dwarfing her in a giant hug.

"Thank you Rose! Thank you." He said more gently and led her to the door. I stiffened. Hikaru and I would be left alone in this room on our own until this stranger came back. I looked over at Hikaru, and his expression told me that he was feeling exactly the same way. Tense.

"You'll be safe here." I looked over to the door to see Rose looking at us calmly. She managed to smile through her eyes. "Trust me." She paused at the door, waiting for an answer, and I nodded stiffly. She shot us a smile before the door closed behind her. I sat on the bed and Hikaru and I held onto each other silently. _What's going to happen?_ I couldn't help but wonder. She told us we'd be safe in the company of a stranger, but I couldn't help but think that: _She was a stranger only yesterday._


	6. The Rage'

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Hey guys, sorry it's taken such a long time for me to update. I just got back from a cross-country road trip with my dad. So I hope you enjoy this chapter. I worked pretty hard on it. R&R and tell me what you think.

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**_Night Rose's POV_**

I stood in the rafters of the club in my dancing outfit, which was not much more than a full-body black leotard with a sparkly white milky way design swirling over the left side of my body, and my hair had been swept back into a tight bun that ballerinas typically wore, so that it wouldn't get caught in the ropes. My face felt slightly heavy with makeup in an almost comforting, familiar way, and I sighed, preparing myself. Youta would be announcing my act soon, and I had to brace myself for the memories that were sure to come flooding back as soon as I made the first move of my dance. Half-aware of what I was doing, I looked up from the gyrating crowd around twelve feet under me, and I located the positioning of the ropes tied securely to the support beams that held the ceiling up and were earthed in the cement walls. The closest rope to me was in front of me and it hung like a hammock, both ends of it tied strongly to two different support beams. I smiled wryly. _Not too exciting._ I thought. _I'll just have to fix that._ I measured the distance between the rope and myself carefully with my eyes, and once I was sure exactly where it was, I turned my back to it and grinned. This was going to be fun. No harnesses or safety nets or ropes. Just the crowd beneath me to catch me if I fell. _How fun._ I thought, and I looked down, letting go of the beam next to me, balancing perfectly like a cat on the slim beam I was standing on. I had never, in my life, been afraid of heights. I was rarely afraid of anything.

"**Attention all clubbers!" **Youta's voice rang clearly through the speakers that were placed strategically throughout the club, and even one or two outside to draw attention. The music was turned off, and the crowd grudgingly stilled and became silent with a few muttered protests. **"We have a ****special**** performance for you tonight to liven up your experience here tonight!" ** he announced eagerly with gusto, and a curious murmur seemed to emanate from the crowd. **"An old friend of mine has agreed to perform for us tonight, and may I present to you, my friend; the one and only dare deviling princess: 'Flower of the Night'!"** an excited murmur was definitely emanating from the crowd below me now, and they were all looking at each other excitedly, and I saw some new party-goers coming in through the doors. A drum roll started, and a few spotlights lit and starting sweeping over the crowd and at the same time Youta shouted, came up to focus on me. **"Look up!"** A resounding gasp from the crowd below me was my cue as the thrilling music started, and I closed my eyes and sighed, giving myself over to my primal instincts completely, bent my knees, and performed a backwards dive off of the beam, and caught hold of the rope before I stopped remembering.

_**Kaoru's POV**_

One of the men we had met at the door earlier had come up to the flat my brother and I were in, leaving a tray of ramen and sodas for us before looking us over once and leaving. It was a bit strange really, but Hikaru made himself right at home, and so- following suit- did I. Nobody had come back to check on us since Rose and her friend had left, and so Hikaru was now lying on the bed reading a manga he had found, and I was drinking a Fanta and looking out onto the crowd through the sound-proofed window. It was kind of dull, until I found a few headsets leading into the wall.

Curious, I put them on, and I found that by twisting a little knob on the panel the cord went through, I could hear what was happening outside. I straightened up and looked through the window. The sound and sight matched up perfectly, It amazed me that the quality was so good. Someone was speaking through a loudspeaker, and the crowd had stopped gyrating and were facing the DJ. I looked and frowned a little. Youta was standing there, and speaking into a microphone enthusiastically.

"**-may I present to you, my friend;"** he was saying. **"the one and only dare deviling princess: 'Flower of the Night'!"** There was a moment of anticipation in which the people of the crowd looked at each other and murmured between themselves excitedly, then:

"**Look up!" **Everyone looked up as a vigorous song came on, and three different colored spotlights in red, blue and yellow swept up to focus on one spot on the ceiling, and I dropped my soda in surprise, the orange liquid spilling onto the carpet.

Night Rose had jumped from the rafters, her back arching gracefully backwards with her arms outstretched, and I watched her fall as if she was in slow motion, as she reached for the rope and grabbed hold. The rope tautened, and she swung her body around, the white pattern on her black lycra suit sparkling in the lights, and the makeup that she had over her face sparkling black and white like a Vegas showgirl's. I slowly came to realize that my hands were in tight fists as she swung herself gracefully around the ropes, and that I was completely tense as she threw herself into the air with ease, freefalling at times. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her, even when Hikaru put his hand on my shoulder. If he said something, I couldn't hear him, and I could only raise a shaking hand and point to where Night Rose was swinging and flying through the air, and I mutely pointed at the headsets attached to the wall when he squeezed my shoulder gently, and he let go to put one on, and soon he was watching her with me, though he was at ease, watching her with something like admiration in his eyes.

I couldn't take it. For some reason, watching her fly so dangerously through the air with such agility was- heart stopping- and I didn't know why. Only that my heart was pounding hard with fear. Shaking, I pulled the headphones off of my ears, and I hung it up on the wall, before turning around and stumbling over to the bed Hikaru had just left, letting myself fall there with relief. I don't know why my legs had turned to jelly, and my insides to ice, but I just couldn't watch her fly through the air anymore. I was afraid she'd fall.

I looked up at the pale blue ceiling, trying not to think about what was going on outside the window, with my arms spread out wide over the soft cotton sheets. I felt as if all the blood had drained from my body, and I felt very light-headed and somewhat dizzy. _She's doing this for us._ A quiet thought seemed to slip into my mind, and I felt instantly guilty. _If we hadn't left our wallets and phones in the limo, she wouldn't be having to this for us._ I sat up, supporting myself with my elbows, and looking sadly out the window. I could just barely see her swinging herself past the window from where I am. _And she can tell us apart._ I thought, thinking amazedly, distracted from the window completely for once. _She can tell us apart._ I thought in awe, looking down at the palms of my hands after pushing myself forward to lean on my knees. _Only Haruhi had been able to tell us apart before, and yet,_ I held my breath without realizing, and blinked. _–It seemed to take Rose no time at all._ I let my breath out gently and looked at the window, where Hikaru was still watching her perform. _How-?_ I wondered, looking at the window with a warmth in my heart that grew so quickly, I had to wonder about it. _What-? What is this? _ I thought. _My heart- I'm fond of her…_ I realized after some inner reflection. I looked at my brother by the window. I had always loved my brother like another part of myself, and that love I had for him was very strong, but- when I looked at Rose, or thought about her, I felt something different. _Something…_ It was different, but it had a strong hold on me, and to put a metaphor on it, it felt like a rising sun. _Could it be…?_ I thought, and for a brief second, I tried to comprehend it, but shook my head.

I couldn't be in love.

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**A/N:** R&R please.


	7. A Name

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Heya guys. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, but I hope you like this chapter all the same. Remember; R&R.

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The performance was over, and I was breathing hard, exhilarated by the rush of adrenaline that had kept me in the air- and by the cheering of the crowd. Youta had me tucked safely under one arm while I came back to myself after being 'out for the count' during the performance. I had always performed in a trance, and this time was no different, except for the smile I could barely keep. I was wearing a slight smile for the crowd, but anyone close to me could see that it didn't reach my eyes.

My performance was empty to me except for the emotions coursing through my body like a river. I hadn't performed for months, and having performed now was seriously eating away at my chest, and I was actually starting to shake. I had tuned the crowd out a long time ago, and so when cool air greeted my hot, watery eyes and my flushed face, it was a surprise, and all my senses opened up, on alert.

I was standing outside with Youta, around the corner from the entrance to the club, sheltered by a brick wall. There were a couple streetlamps glowing faintly in the darkness of the dead of night, and there was the half-moon and a handful of stars glowing overhead in the navy velvet sky. I gasped sadly, and I put a hand up to my eyes and felt wetness there. I took my hand away and looked at it, seeing a mess of wet black and white and grey makeup there. I was crying.

"Y-Youta…" my voice shook, and Youta wrapped his arms comfortingly around me. Of anyone, he truly understood what I was going through. He was there- he was there when- when…

It hurt too much to think about it, but I had lived it during life, and I had brought back the memories during the dance. It was the sort of pain I couldn't handle, and I just sobbed into my dear friend's chest, smearing makeup without meaning to all over his shirt. Youta soothingly rubbed circles on my back, gradually and slowly moving upward towards my shoulder blades. When his hand reached the middle spot between my shoulders blades, it triggered my soft spot. Even the strongest person has a soft spot, and mine happened to be physical. As soon as Youta started rubbing my back right there, I stopped crying instantly, and I'm sure he smiled at the quickness of my reaction, but I couldn't care less. Rubbing that spot felt so good to me, I was in bliss, going limp and everything. It was what my mother used to do when I was upset. I sniffed loudly, and lifted my head to look Youta in the eye. He smiled sympathetically down at me.

"Thanks Youta. For everything." Youta ruffled my hair carefully, trying to not make it come out of the tightly strained bun it was in. He sighed, smiling and looking gently down at me.

"Anything for you… Miyako." _Miyako._ I gasped lightly when I heard the name I had last heard pass from my father's lips. _My father…_ An onslaught of memories hit me, and I froze, viewing them silently in pained grief. _Father…_ My father was a strong man, hardly brought down by anyone, and I missed him so terribly. So I reacted, pushing Youta away from me.

"Stay away from me." I choked, gazing distantly into the brick wall of the building, trying desperately to squash the emotions I couldn't kill. "Don't call me that. Ever." I took deep, even breaths doing what I had done so naturally about half a year ago. Burying it. All the pain I felt. Burying it. Because even if it wouldn't die, the least I could do was bury it alive. This hurting heart of mine. I would bury it alive.

I looked away from Youta so that I wouldn't see his hurt expression, although I could practically smell it in the way he tried to reach out to me. I did what I always did. I brushed him off and ran away, leaving him to go inside.

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Rose came back into the room about 15 minutes after she had left the main club, and it was obvious something was wrong with her. At least, different. I sat up on the bed with my elbows on my knees and watched her as she stormed into the room, wiping the makeup off of her face with a moist paper towel as she came and turned straight into the bathroom without a word or a glance at either my brother or myself. Her face was a mask. I could tell that right away. A mask covering up some sort of great internal pain. A pain I could barely start to understand. I was looking at the closed bathroom door when I heard Hikaru scoff, and I turned to look at him, seeing him wearing an agitated expression.

"What crawled up her ass and died?" He asked rudely, and I frowned before turning to look back at the door Rose had closed behind herself. _That's one way to put it._ I thought, and I sighed. _Trust Hikaru to never be gentle with words…_ I didn't know everything about Rose, not even her real name, because I just knew that a name like 'Night Rose' could only ever be a nickname, no matter where in the world she was. I just had a feeling that she was holding back a lot. And that it was very painful. I sighed, looking at the door she had hidden herself behind, running a hand through my hair worriedly. _When is she going to come out? When is she going to come out and heal?_ I couldn't help but wonder, flopping myself back to lie on the bed, and I felt exhaustion from the long day's journey finally taking me over, making my eyelids feel heavy like deadweights. After awhile I felt Hikaru come over and pick me up, then putting me back down in a way that I was fully supported by the bed, and I felt him wrap his arms around me, just before we both fell into the darkness of sleep.

_Heal, Rose-sama. Please heal… become who you were before…_

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We were three days ahead in our travels out of the four days Rose had calculated it would take for us to reach home when we were attacked. We were just following Rose through the darker parts of a town when suddenly; I saw her freeze, and start inching back towards us. I didn't know why she acted like that. I didn't notice a thing until the roof tile hit the pavement, and Rose had spun to face us, using one swift move with her arm to knock us out of the way behind a dumpster and some trashcans. I last saw her peering over the bins at us, her eyes seeming to glow slightly with a near rabid sort of anger, and she hissed so that only we could hear. "Do not move if you value your life until I say the word."

-And so that's how we got here, Kaoru and I hiding behind the bins she had thrown us behind, Kaoru frozen obediently, but my curiosity just wouldn't let me sit still, not wanting to only hear, and not see what she was doing. I tentatively peeked over the bins to watch, and my eyes widened at the same time my mouth dropped open as I watched her 'dance' with shock and horror. _She's a murderer._ Was the only thought I was able to think as I watched her livid form moving effortlessly, her eyes distant and vacant, lips pressed tight as she moved her fists blindingly fast, barely even turning her head before she stabbed the next man, the next mafia member to attack her.

Such cold eyes. Such bitter, frozen, angry, cold eyes. She didn't seem to care who she killed, as long as she killed them. I blinked, and then I realized. She was keeping them away from us. _She's protecting us, and they're trying to kill her, but she's…she's dispatching… them quickly, and she's not letting them get anywhere near us._

A man with a heavily scarred face dropped down right in front of me, and I threw myself away from him, reacting in fear, my back hitting the wall behind me as his hands reached out for me with a leer, but there was a thud, and his face registered surprise before he collapsed, a dagger embedded in his back. I realized all the blood had drained from my face, my heart racing and my breathing heavy as I looked up to see Rose looking at me for a split second before turning and dealing with the second to last member of the Sendo Syndicate. _The Sendo syndicate?!_ I realized with a flash of realization. _That's the same syndicate that she saved us from when we met her!_ My mouth gaped open in surprise as I processed this new information, my mind reeling. _There's a branch of the mafia that's out to get us._ I realized dimly, closing my mouth slowly. _That's why she's traveling with us. She's practically been our bodyguard…_ I thought as I shakily got to my knees again to look carefully over the bins once more. I couldn't see her. There was a bulky midriff blocking my sight, and I apprehensively looked up, and I saw a thickset man with a bald head and cruel eyes grinning crookedly down at us.

"Heh, heh, heh-" he laughed a classic evil laugh in the bass notes just before a familiar, black-covered, strong arm cut it off as she wrapped it around his neck in a chokehold. His knees buckled, and Rose's face appeared over his shoulder, looking at me seriously; slightly pink with the effort she was using to hold the man down.

"Hikaru." She said loudly. "Take your brother and get to the main street. You'll know your way home from there." I blinked at her in surprise, frozen in place. She growled in frustration. "I'll hold them off here, now MOVE!" she yelled as her arm finally slipped from around his neck and she tackled him away from us.

So I moved. I grabbed Kaoru's wrist, yanked him to his feet and bolted, pulling him along behind me. I hardly felt my feet touch the ground as I ran, never once letting go of my brother's wrist as I went, heading towards the main street. Once there, I stopped only for a second as my eyes widened in realization. Rose was right. I did recognize it. Home was a straight shot forward and then a couple twists and turns before we got there.

I didn't hesitate. Before long, we were standing- panting- in front of the gates to our mansion. I saw a gardener working close enough to hear me, and so I yelled, which didn't occur to me that I had never done before.

"Hey! Let us in! Let us in!" I yelled loudly between breaths, and the gardener all but fell over in surprise when he looked up and saw us, his eyes wide.

"Y-yes, young masters." He stuttered before scrambling off up to the house, and I pulled Kaoru along to where the two gates met in the middle, and I was through them as soon as there was room for Kaoru and I to get through, running all the way up to the front doors and pushing them open before the butler could do it for me, pulling Kaoru through and slamming them behind me as soon as he was through.

A few moments passed, during which I leaned forward with my hands braced against the door, breathing heavily, staring at the floor. _We did it._ I thought suddenly, sinking to my knees on the marble floor. _We're safe._ I nearly laughed out of relief as I realized that, and I turned to look at Kaoru triumphantly to have the look wiped off my face instantly.

_Kaoru._ Kaoru was kneeling there, frozen, his face blank, the only trace of emotion that I could see was the slight meeting of his eyebrows in worry, and I could see it in his eyes.

"Kaoru?" I asked softly, and he turned to look at me slowly, and the full weight of the emotion in his eyes hit me all at once. He was traumatized. "Shit!" I swore, and I heard a couple of the maids gasp as I stood and pulled Kaoru to his feet, pulling one of his arms around my shoulders and supporting him by the waist as he stared blankly ahead. I turned to glare slightly at the maids and the butler standing slightly scattered inside the slightly pink main hall. "We're going to our room. Do not disturb us, and only let in who we invite." I said sternly, and I waited for their nods of agreement before turning sharply and leading Kaoru up to our room.

It was a quiet walk to our room, and I was intent on getting there as quickly as I could, already planning things out. When I got to our room, I opened the door with my elbow, and guided Kaoru carefully inside, closing it behind us. The lights came on automatically as I lead Kaoru forward and set him on the bed. I put my fingers under his chin and made him look up at me in concern. His eyes watered when he saw me, and with a relieved sigh, I knew he would be fine as I sat next to him and pulled him into my shoulder for a good cry. A moment passed before I was able to fully relax.

_Watching people who want to kill you die, isn't easy, but I realized what Rose was doing while she was doing it. But Kaoru…_ I sighed and looked at him sympathetically as he sobbed. _He only saw the carnage after it happened, and that had to be a shock to his system. He's not as strong as I am, because he's so gentle. If I had seen what he had, I probably would've been a little scarred, but I would've been fine overall. Kaoru… what he saw will haunt him for a long time to come._ I sighed at the result of my musing, and let my eyes wander over the room I hadn't seen for awhile, smelling fresh and clean whereas I… I suddenly realized I stank. I had worn the same clothes for three days without changing, and they were dirty and smelled terrible from sleeping outside and from the sweat from running. I sighed. Once Kaoru was done crying, we'd need to shower and do something about these clothes. My wandering eyes fell upon the phone by out bed, and suddenly remembered. _Kyoya. Haruhi. Tamaki and the others. They'll be worried about us._ I thought, and I reached over and grabbed the phone, dialing left-handed and pressing send before switching hands and putting the phone to my ear over Kaoru's head.

It rang once before being picked up. "Hello, this is Kyoya Otori." I smiled slightly at the familiar voice and greeting that was so Kyoya-like.

"Kyoya. We're back." Silence.

* * *

"Kyoya. We're back." My eyes widened as I recognized Hikaru's voice, and I was struck silent. _Hikaru. Kaoru._ I was surprised, and more than a little relieved. I sighed with that relief and put my head in my hand to lean against the empty clubroom wall, causing the others to look at me as I flashed one of my rare smiles.

"You're at the mansion?" I asked, straightening up and putting my free hand in my pocket. _It's been three days…_

"Yes."

"We'll see you there." I said before snapping my phone shut and turning to look at the others, the relief clear in my eyes, causing the others to stand and face me, waiting. "We're going to the Hitachin Mansion." I announced, allowing myself a slight smile. "They're back."

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**A/N:** So they're finally home. It should be good, shouldn't it? But what happened to Night Rose? Or should I say...Miyako?


	8. Morinozuka

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** I was SO excited to write this chapter, I just cranked it out, so I hope you can follow it well enough, because I didn't proof read it.

I dedicate this chapter to my faithful reviewer: ILuvHikaruAndKaoru! You never fail to review, and for that, thank you so very much!

Remember: REVIEW!

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Distractions could be fatal. I- out of all people- should know that. Though after Hikaru and Kaoru escaped, I kept finding it harder and harder to concentrate. I never usually had that problem when facing down members of the Sendo Syndicate, because usually I was eager to kill them. It seems that the Twins' safety was more important to me this time, as I faced more numbers of the Sendo Syndicate than I had ever faced before, their original number doubling after the twins had managed to get away.

They were forming two rings around me, one inside the other, each of them wearing either leers, glares or looks of disgust- each of them equipped with varying sorts of weapons such as knives or chains, knuckle dusters or just their plain fists. I was no longer listening to my instincts as I slowly turned inside the center of the circles- worry over the twins had taken that away from me, and for the first time in my life, I felt the beginnings of a tense, cold sensation within my chest. As I looked around the circle, I felt my heart start to sink, and I realized what I was feeling. For the first time in my life, I didn't have such a strong desire for revenge. For the first time in my life, I wanted to run away. For the first time in my life… I was well and truly afraid. As I looked around these circles cautiously at these angry faces, I realized was the sinking feeling was. _Dread._ For the first time in my life, I doubted I would make it through this fight.

Still. A warrior is a warrior, and I was raised to be one. I was trained to fight as soon as I could talk, and I was taught how to follow my instincts and how to tap into various sorts of energy that could help me in a fight. Though most importantly, I was taught a code of honor that I was raised by, a code of honor that taught me how to live and how to die, and it was the last rule that told me what to do now.

'_Miyako.' Father said, kneeling before me and looking me lovingly but seriously in the eye. I looked up at him lovingly, trusting him completely in how he took my shoulder so gently after training. "One day, you're going to have a choice to make. A very important decision that your path as a warrior will depend on." I looked at him with my big, young eyes, drinking in every word he said. "You will die someday, and moreover, you will have the choice to die with honor, or you could scramble for a chance to live, but remain a coward in battle. Whichever you chose will be how people remember you, Miyako. You could be an honorable warrior written about in history books, or fade away on the breath of time- forgotten. One day you will have that choice to make, and that choice will reflect on the strength of your spirit, and your will to survive."_

To die with honor, or to live as a coward was what my father had taught me all those years ago, and I found myself in the same situation that he had described, with all these thugs around me. I was afraid, but I knew what I had to do. To go into battle for honor with love in my heart, unafraid of death- maybe I would survive- but I knew I couldn't die running away. So it was with thoughts of honor and love that I raised my blades, and the fighting began again. To die with thoughts of love in my heart.

_Kaoru… I hope you're safe._

* * *

They had all come. Kaoru was sleeping on the bed, and I had just changed after a very welcomed shower when the rest of the host club entered our room without knocking or any kind of hesitation. Kyoya led the way, closely followed by Tamaki and Haruhi, Hunny hanging suspended by his armpits between Mori's hands as he came through the door before placing his cousin back on his shoulders. Tamaki didn't waste any time either.

"What happened!?" He all but shouted, causing Kaoru to wince and turn over in his sleep to face away from the crowd, and causing me to glare rather venomously at Tamaki, making his eyes widen and jump behind Kyoya for protection- who ignored him. The person in question was looking at me very intensely from behind his stylish glasses, and I sighed. That look clearly said: _Answer the question._ I looked up at everyone, and everyone except for Kyoya and Mori wore worried expressions. _They really care…_ I thought, and a smile twitched at the corner of my mouth as I sat down on the bed next to Kaoru and took a deep breath.

"The limo driver was an imposter, as you probably already know by know," I said looking up at Kyoya who nodded slightly in confirmation. "He was a member of the Sendo Syndicate of the local mafia, and he intended to kill us-" I said and as expected everyone except Mori and Kyoya gasped, whose faces just darkened a bit. "-but we were saved. By a woman who called herself 'Night Rose'. Skilled in some kind of Martial Art, she came through the driver's side window and at the very least knocked him out- although with what I guess was a rock in her hand and the resulting…crunch…" I shuddered at the memory; everyone's faces portraying varying degrees of surprise. Even Mori and Kyoya. "-I imagine he was killed." I said with another shudder, but took a breath and moved on. "She was dressed completely in black, and at first I thought that she was a man, since I didn't get a good look at her as she came through the window. She later led us to safety in what looked to be an abandoned shop where she left us in the care of a friend of hers called Daisuke- and when she came back we learned that she seemed to have a deadened sense of pain. When she came into the room, her arm was bandaged, and we overheard her talking with Daisuke when he went out the let her in." I said and sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"It was then that we discovered we didn't have our phones our wallets with us, so she proposed to lead us home by foot, since it was a desolate area we found ourselves in, which was full of thugs and the like. We accepted, since we weren't in any position to refuse, and the first night we slept at another of her friends' place. It was a man called Youta with one brown eye and one green eye, and he just about matched Mori in height, but dwarfed him in muscle mass. He owned the club we stayed at, and I learned two important things about her that night." I paused, and remembered how brilliant and amazing her rope dancing was. I sighed. _Amazing._ "One, she told us apart without a second glance." There was another light gasp that made me smile slightly. "Two, she paid for the night we spent there with an absolutely amazing kind of rope dance where she jumped from the ceiling without anything to support her, and she swung from ropes like a female Tarzan who took ballet."((Lol.)) Tamaki sniggered at the description, and I looked at him to tell him off, but upon seeing his face, couldn't be bothered. It was then that I noticed Mori was leaning forward a little with a slight frown on his face, and I looked at him strangely, before continuing on for a lack of response, frowning myself. "For the last two days we traveled mostly through woods and small towns before we came across trouble earlier today. I didn't know anything was wrong until she had thrown us behind some trash cans next to a dumpster in an alley." I leaned forward and placed my elbows on my knees and balance my forehead in my hands, my expression growing darker as I spoke sadly. "It was then that I realized what she was. Members of the Sendo Syndicate had attacked us, and she was protecting us, keeping them away from us…but-" I didn't know how to tell them, and I took a moment to think it over, wondering how on earth I could tell them what I had seen. The sight of the carnage alone had left Kaoru traumatized enough to frighten me. How could I…? I shook my head and sighed deeply. _How could I?_

"Hikaru?" Hunny's tentative sweet voice broke through my silence, and I looked up at him with heavy eyes, and he gulped before speaking. "What did she do?" he asked like he didn't know if he wanted to hear the answer or not. I sighed, my heart heavy. _If Kaoru was traumatized from just the sight then Hunny… Hunny would probably be tortured just from the description… still… however cute he is, he is still older than me by a few years…_

"She killed them, Hunny." I said, and the atmosphere of the room froze. "She killed them like she was dancing the dance of death, her twin daggers stabbing and slashing and always hitting the target, but her eyes…" I shivered, and Haruhi moved up to sit on the bed next to me, and she wrapped her arms soothingly around me. I leaned into her slightly, grateful for the comfort she offered. "Her eyes… so cold. Her eyes were so distant and cold, and… livid. She like she was exacting revenge as she fought, and before… she always looked so lonely. She looked so lonely and sad when she thought no one was looking." I looked up at everyone, who looked absolutely blown away by the story. "She managed to give us a chance to escape, and I grabbed Kaoru and ran as fast as I could when she told me to, never looking back. That's how we got here." I finished, and the room seemed to ring in the silence, as if it was expecting more.

Slowly, Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose, light reflecting off the lenses, and he looked at me as if he was lost in thought. Everyone was silent.

"I don't suppose that the 'Legend', saved you?" I looked at him in confusion.

"The 'Legend'?" and so Kyoya told his side of the story.

* * *

When I woke up in the alley, I was surprised I was still alive. I hurt everywhere. There were no bodies in the alley other than myself, and I guessed that after the Sendo Syndicate finished with me, they figured I wasn't worthy enough to bury, leaving me here while carrying off their own. I lay on my back on the cement where I had been thrown, looking up at the stars through the darkness of the night. It was deathly silent apart from the chirping of the crickets and the occasional whirr of a cicada. It was cool, and I knew without looking that one of my daggers had been stabbed into the side of my leg after a Sendo thug had ripped it from me and it was still there. Gently reaching down, very slowly, I could feel the hilt, and I touched it lightly enough that it didn't even cause me any more pain. There were other knife wounds across my chest and sides, and since I could've protected myself from receiving those wounds, I guessed it had happened after one of the thugs got his chain around my neck and another was starting to punch me into oblivion with his knuckle-dusters.

Just lying there and thinking about my injuries, I came to realize that I didn't have much time left if I stayed here, since I could still feel blood trickling down my sides and making my shirt feel heavy. Just by listening to my body telling me about it's injuries, I realized that there was no way I could get out of here without a whole lot of pain, even though my sense of pain had been dulled by revenge up until now. I sighed lightly as to let out a little emotion while jostling my broken ribs as little as I could.

_Kaoru and Hikaru gave me another reason to live up until now. For Kaoru… I know now why my heart burned when I saved him and his brother the first time. My heart recognized him. The soul I had promised to fall in love with before I was born. And he did so much more for me than I had ever possibly done for him. He… helped me start to heal from my family's murders._

A loud gasp and a slight scream jolted me out of my musings as I turned my head to look toward the entrance of the alley, and I saw a young woman standing there, looking at me, and I tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace as the woman jogged over to me. I saw her clearly then. She was flat chested and adorable with large brown eyes and a brunette boy's haircut as she kneeled down beside me. She couldn't have been much older than the twins, if not younger, and her face was a perfect picture of worry.

"OMG." She said, and I smiled weakly at her. "You need help. Um, um, um…" She seemed to be talking to herself as she fumbled around in the pockets of her coat and pulled out a phone before flipping it open and franticly scanning through what I supposed were contacts. "Who should I call, who should I call…?" She muttered to herself franticly, and I looked at her, kneeling by my side, and blinked. _It's been a long time since someone has tried to help me like this…_

"Who do you know?" I asked calmly, and she looked at me with wide eyes. She clearly was very close to panicking, and I knew that was never a good thing to do in this sort of situation. So I smiled at her weakly but honestly, and I saw some of the panic leave her face, but she still remained tense. "Calm down. Panicking in this sort of situation never helps anyone, you know." I said softly, and worry was apparent in her face now as she nodded. "Relax." I said bluntly, and she blinked in surprise, and I smiled slightly at the situation. _How funny. A nearly dead woman giving her rescuer orders… that's a contradiction, huh…_ "What's your name?" I asked, hoping to get a response this time. Fate was smiling on me now.

"Haruhi Fujioka." I smiled happily. _Finally, a response…_ I thought happily.

"Nice to meet you Ms. Fujioka." I said respectfully, and she blushed a little. _Is she not used to compliments?_ I thought curiously, but let it go. "I am…" I said, but my throat closed off on it's own, as if afraid of what I was going to say. _What should I call myself in front of this young lady?_ I wondered, closing my eyes with a frown, but before I could think too much, she was speaking again.

"Miss? Miss!?" She said, and opened my eyes and smiled at her. _She's panicking again…_

"Relax Miss, I'm not dying yet. It takes a lot to kill me." I said, sighing, looking back up at the sky. "I have two names. By one I am known by many as a sort of legend, and the other name is a name only a few know me by. My true name is my family name that may have died out if it wasn't for me." I looked over and smiled sadly at Ms. Fujioka. "Many call me Night Rose." Instantly, her eyes widened in recognition, and I looked at her in confusion as she pushed her up to stand on her knees in surprise.

"Night Rose?!" She all but shouted, and I winced slightly from the volume before she kneeled back down, lowering her voice but still looking at me with her wide eyes. "You're the one who saved Hikaru and Kaoru, aren't you?" It was my turn to look at her with surprise now.

"You know them? Are they safe? Are they ok?" I asked her, and her face softened as she was looking back at her phone and I saw her select a contact and press 'call'. She looked at me and nodded gratefully.

"They are. Thanks to you." She said, and I relaxed with a sigh, resting my head back against the pavement, as who ever she was calling picked up on the other end. "Kyoya? Yes. I found Night Rose, and she's very badly injured." She said and paused for a moment as I heard the other voice buzzing on the other side. She turned to look at me, and she looked me all over, wincing when she saw the dagger in my thigh. "Very badly injured. She looks like she's been in a gang fight or something. She's got a short dagger sticking out of her right leg." Pause. She looked up at my face again. "She's not 'dying yet.' She says it takes a lot to kill her." Another pause, and she stood up. "I'm in an alley between the market and my home. My shopping is lying just outside the alley." There was another pause, and she hung up before kneeling by my side again. She looked at me kindly, although a little sadly. "That was my friend Kyoya Ootori. He's sending an ambulance to come pick you up." She said, and I couldn't help but smirk, causing her some confusion.

"Hitachin, Ootori… do you know a lot of rich people?" I asked with a little laughter in my voice, grinning. She smiled.

"I guess you could say that." A siren cut us off as an Ootori ambulance came to a stop outside our alley, the doors opening and I saw two paramedics and a very cute, tall boy with glasses hopping out the back and walking swiftly towards us as the paramedics got the stretcher out the back. Ms. Fujioka stood, surprised as he walked up to us. I marveled at the ambulance's speed. _Must be a hospital nearby…_ I mused. "Kyoya. What are you doing here?" _Kyoya? Must be that Ootori she was taking about._ I thought, now watching the approaching man from where I was lying with interest. I blinked, and tuned into his character.

Cool. Calm. Calculative. Cold. Shrewd. Lonely. Honest. Dependable. I squinted my eyes slightly. There was an unusual impression coming through. _ Is that…Shadow King? Weird…_ The young man in question smirked.

"Well, Haruhi," He said, and I made another observation. _Good friends._ "I just wanted to meet this so-called legend that saved our twins." The cool man called Kyoya switched his gaze over to me as the paramedics carefully lifted me and placed me onto the stretcher, strapping me quickly, efficiently and gently into place. They cranked it up, and I was more level with the Ootori and Ms. Fujioka now. I still hadn't looked away from them, not saying a word. "After all, it's not every day a legend becomes reality."

The paramedics rolled me away from the conversation, and I sighed, looking up at the stars. The stretcher was oddly comfortable, even with the dagger with a thankfully short blade still in my thigh- and I didn't know what to think about going to a hospital for the first time in my life. They slid me into the ambulance, and the man called Kyoya and Ms. Fujioka slid into the ambulance after the paramedics, the groceries seemingly forgotten. All was quiet as the doors shut and the engine started with the sirens on again. It was a nice few minutes of silence, and Ms. Fujioka sighed.

"Did you tell the others?" She asked. The Ootori nodded.

"They are all waiting at the hospital, even the twins. Mori was especially anxious…" I gasped as my eyes widened in surprise. I couldn't help it. It had been so long since I had heard that name. _Mori… is it?_ I looked slowly over at the Ootori, wanting very much for my recognition to be validated.

"Mori?" I rasped in surprise, causing me to wince because of the shifting of my ribs. The Ootori boy looked at me curiously, and nodded slowly.

"Takashi Morinozuka." He said slowly, and my eyes widened. _It is you! It is you! Oh my god…_ When I didn't reply, the Ootori boy narrowed his eyes slightly at me and asked: "Why?" _Takashi…_ It meant so much to me to finally hear his name again. It meant so much to me that he was waiting at the hospital, that my eyes were slowly filling with tears as my face softened into a smile. _I won't be alone anymore…_ I slowly turned my head to the side, to look at them, the tears leaking over the side of my cheek and into my ear, causing me to wince slightly as it snuck it's way into my ear canal. My eyes were glowing as I licked my lips to moisten them. They looked at me with identical puzzled expressions.

"My real name is Miyako Morinozuka. Takashi is my cousin."

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**A/N:** Dun, dun, duuuuuun!!! Haha! What to you think? REVIEW!!!!! l

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	9. Forgivness

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Heya, my one and only reader! Another chappie here that I just finished off! It's a lot shorter, but hopefully you're find it's a lot sweeter! Just like Hunny-sempai! :D

:D Enjoy! And REVIEW!

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She was unconscious by the time the paramedics were frantically wheeling her into the hospital, an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose, her heartbeat slowing down. I was standing by the doors they came through with Hunny on my shoulders and the twins and Tamaki standing around me. I recognized her immediately. It had been 11 years since I had last seen her- six years old and a formidable sparring partner at the last family reunion we had together. I could see that she had changed dramatically since then, but there was no way I couldn't recognize that face.

"Miyako." I waited a heartbeat before setting Hunny down and chasing after her. _Where are they taking her? What happened to her?_ I blinked. Miyako had taught me how to find out things like that at the last reunion I had seen her at.

"_You know how to meditate, right?" A six-year-old Miyako was looking me right in the eye. I had become puzzled after watching her mingle with her mother and father in the crowd, and she had surprised me by seeming to know every single thing about everybody. Even the waiter who had brought her a lemonade. I had then approached her and asked her about it, and she knew I was there before I even make my presence known. I nodded to answer her question. "Well then, it's very simple." She continued. "Sensing people's energy and gaining information from that is really quite easy when you already know how to meditate. Though it's easier when you know them." She blinked at me and grinned real big, showing the gap in her teeth where one of her front teeth was missing. She was just about as cute as Hunny-kun. She grabbed my hand suddenly and started to pull me in the direction of the gardens. "Let's go into the gardens and practice, ok Takashi?" Out of surprise, I let her drag me after her. This was the first time we met; I hadn't even introduced myself, yet she knew my name._

I blinked, and I took a deep breath, slowing my pace, since I could keep up quite well with the doctors and nurses by just lengthening my stride. I focused on her warm energy, and felt an unfamiliar sadness in it. A slight darkness which felt both watery and somewhat dry at the same time. It was a painful sadness, and it wouldn't let me go. It seemed to be clinging to me like a desperately sad child. I blinked. _Show me._

_**A burning, crackling, ravenous heat. Smoke. Thuggish laughter surrounding the house. A smell of petrol, ash and burning wood and paint. The house was burning down. Those thugs from the Sendo Syndicate had waited until everyone was asleep to set the place on fire just because father had refused to teach their branch of the mafia how to fight our deadly martial art. Our disciplines wouldn't allow us to teach such bloodthirsty maniacs our way of fighting, even if we wanted to. Taught to the wrong people, this style of fighting could do a lot of harm. It was only ever taught to the pure-hearted.**_

_**I had stayed up late because I was rebelling angrily against my father since he had told me off about my choice of boyfriends. I was nearly falling asleep by the time I smelled the smoke. By the time I was fully alert, it was too late. The petrol had been laid very strategically through the house, and once lit outside, it spread like lightning.**_

"_**Father! FATHER!!!" I was screaming myself hoarse, coughing from the smoke. There was no answer. "FATHER!!!" I heard coughing coming from the direction of my parents' room. "Father! Are you alright!?" more coughing.**_

"_**Miyako." Cough. "Get out-" cough. "-of the house. See if you can find your little sister and run." Father said before he fell into a hacking cough fit.**_

"_**FATHER!!!" I was terrified. My father meant the world to me, along with the rest of my family, and he sounded like he was dying. I tried to find a way to my sister's room, but the way was blocked by fire. There was no way I could save her. One jump through the expansive flames and I would be toast. There was a small explosion from the bathroom down the hall, and I remembered the nail varnish remover that my mother used sometimes. "Father! I can't!" I was sobbing hysterically now. "Father! Father please! Can you find a way out!?" There was silence. A dead silence, and I knew in my heart what had happened, but I couldn't bring myself to accept it. "FATHER!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "FATHER!!!!!" I was sobbing and screaming hysterically now. "I'M SORRY FATHER!!! PLEASE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! I'M SORRY!!" I choked on the smoke that stung my eyes, and I knew there was nothing more I could do, but I didn't want to admit it. "Father…" I choked out, burning in the heat and suffocating in the smoke. "I love you. Please, Father…" A burning plank of wood fell from the ceiling, and my instincts took over without warning. I leapt away and jumped through the window, breaking the glass, and in free-fall, I grabbed onto the branch of the oak tree that grew outside my second-story window and scrambled over to the trunk, not caring if the skin of my palms tore. I placed my back against the trunk and faced the house, watching the flames blur in front of my eyes through my tears.**_

"Takashi? Takashi, what's wrong?" Hunny's sweet voice broke me from Miyako's painful memory, and I felt Hunny's gentle, small hand wiping my cheek, holding onto my side. I blinked, and realized I was standing still, and that I had been silently crying, as more moisture squeezed out of my eyes because of the blink. Hunny crooned and smoothed them away as I held onto him. "Takashi, it'll be ok. I'm right here. It's ok." I gulped, and Hunny looked at me sadly. "What's the matter, Takashi?" I looked at him with sad eyes, and his eyes watered at the sight of mine.

"Miyako doesn't have a family." I said, and Hunny silently wrapped his arms around my neck in a gentle hug, and I held onto him gratefully. A second later, I felt someone else hug me from behind, and I looked down and saw Tamaki's sleeve. Then Haruhi walked around to stand in front of me, and hugged me from there, her head resting on the middle of Hunny's back. Then twin sets of arms wrapped around Tamaki and Haruhi from either side of me, and Kaoru and Hikaru laid their heads against my sides. I looked up, and I saw Kyoya standing off to the side, texting on his phone. I looked back down and rested my head in the crook of Hunny's neck with a sad sigh.

A few seconds later, two security cameras on either side of the hallway they were standing in turned to focus on the group hug, and zoomed in and out accordingly and took a picture. Kyoya smiled smugly from behind the glare of light on his glasses lenses.

* * *

Tmp. Tmp. Tmp. _Is that my heart?_ Tmp. Tmp. Tmp. _If so, it's very slow. _Tmp… Tmp… _It's kinda comforting in a way…_ Tmp… _Where's it going? _…_ It's gone… the beat's gone…_ Slowly, I started to feel warmer, and the comfortable darkness got lighter. _What's that? _There was a pinprick of light. It looked familiar in a way, and I started walking towards it, curious.

"**Go back, Miyako."** I froze. _Father? _**"Go back. Takashi is waiting for you. You can't leave my nephew alone on good conscious, can you?**

"_Father?" _I spoke into the light. _"Is that you?"_ A light separated from the pinprick of light and swirled, settling into the loving form of my father, who smiled lovingly at me. He hadn't changed one bit. I smiled, elated, so happy to see him again, and I took a step towards him. _"Father!" _I said happily. Suddenly, he frowned, and I froze, wary.

"**You can't come yet, Miyako. It's not your time.**"A shockran through me with his words.

"_What? Father, what do you mean, 'It's not my time?"_ I asked, and he smiled again, starting to fade away. _"Father!"_ The darkness behind me started to grow lighter.

"**I love you Miyako." **He said, and I gasped, filled with warmth. **"-and don't worry. I forgave you long ago." ** His voice faded away, and voices started getting louder and clearer around me, along with the beeping of machines. I felt sort of… relieved. Not happy, but relieved. My father had forgiven me for not being able to save him long before.

Tmp. Tmp, Tmp. _Hey…_ I smiled. _Welcome back, heartbeat._ Tmp. Tmp. Tmp.

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**A/N:** Yeah, so that was the first 'died-and-came-back' scene I've ever written, I think. I hope you liked it. So do do me a big favor and tell me what you think. The review button is right ----------------------------------------------------------------------********

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	10. Statistics & Songs

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Woohoo! Chapter Ten! I hope this chapter isn't too overwhelming, and I don't know if everything I've written is picture-perfect, but don't hesitate to correct me if I'm wrong. Just no flames please. REVIEW!!

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She was in very bad shape, the doctors said. Most of her ribs were broken, and one of them was dangerously close to puncturing her lung. The dagger in her leg had been stabbed into it very hard, leaving a lot of bruising, but since the blade was short, it had only just nicked a major vein, but the Iliotibial Tract had been sliced, hampering her ability to move that leg, but it would heal over time, and she would regain full use of it with a minor limp if it didn't get infected. Since Miyako had an unnatural amount of pain-relieving endorphins in her system, she didn't feel as much pain as a normal person would with her injuries. The doctors surmised that while it was unnatural to have that amount of pain-relieving endorphins in her body- it could have stemmed from an emotional loss she never truly recovered from, so her body subconsciously picked up the slack for her. But that was just an educated guess.

She had severe bruising and a slight scraping of the skin around her neck, and judging by the pattern of the marks, someone with a good deal of strength had slightly crushed her windpipes with a chain, which also explained her battered palms, which looked as if they had been battling with said chain to avoid major damage to said area. Her torso was severely sliced up, but none of the wounds were too deep, giving the idea that she had been the victim of the well-known tag-and-run tactic, which was typically used by bands of weaker individuals to wear down a stronger opponent. Clearly, this tactic had been applied to her, and upon her weakening, the bigger wounds were dealt.

That was all, but the doctor made us aware that she had clinically died in the operating room, but thankfully, they were able to resuscitate her on the second shock. She was in stable condition now, and should wake up tomorrow morning at the earliest as they had given her a light sedative to give her body the most chance to recover. She was truly lucky to be alive.

When the doctor left the room, the diagnosis was rather hard for me to digest. The woman I had come to know as 'Rose', had died to protect my brother and I. It was a huge relief that she had come back to life, for I don't know what I would've done if she had truly died.

I sighed, and leaned forward, resting my head in my hands, Hikaru sitting beside me, lifted his hand and rubbed my back gently. It was a little comforting, but it did not erase my worries. Kyoya had called Hikaru and I and everyone else just a few hours after he and the others had apparently been in our room, telling us that Haruhi had found Night Rose and to meet him at the local Ootori hospital. So we did, where he filled us in with the most recent information regarding our rescuer while she was being operated on, after Mori had run after her without warning.

'Night Rose' was a nickname for Miyako Morinozuka, Mori's long-lost blood cousin. A rift had formed between her father, and Mori's father- who were brothers- over an argument about how and what to teach the students at their respective dojos. As a result, the family had split, and neither side heard from the other up until now. Mori's father had taken their family's training to a whole new level and started training basic and higher level martial arts to important country's armies, developing diplomatic relations.

As far as Kyoya had managed to find out about Miyako's (or better known as Rose's) side of the family was that they trained few, select groups of students with 'pure hearts' as they had called them. In other words, they only trained people who would take what they learned and use it for the greater good. The reason why they were so picky about who they taught was because any black belt students of their dojo could easily be classed as an assassin because of their level of skill, technique and knowledge and use of weapons. In other words, they were modern-day ninjas. Kyoya's river of knowledge about Miyako ran dry around about there.

That was when Mori told us about her family being murdered by the Sendo Syndicate, and that was when Hikaru spoke up and told everyone about his realization that Rose saved innocents and only ever killed members of the Sendo Syndicate. That was when Kyoya brought out his laptop and looked into the number of deaths in the respective branches of the Japanese mafia, noticing out loud that while the other branches of the mafia suffered normal death rates of 'normal' causes, the Sendo branch's death rate was 60% more severe than the others. When Haruhi asked what that meant, he replied that it meant that on an average Miyako had been killing about 150 members of the Sendo syndicate a month, though mostly the brawns rather than the crucial part of the Syndicate. Everyone turned either slightly green or white when he said that so nonchalantly.

Miyako certainly was angry.

* * *

When I woke up, I was feeling a lot better than I had in the alley, and was slightly surprised at the whiteness of the room. It was early, and the room was empty and somewhat dark, so with nothing else to do and TV remote out of reach- I amused myself by making faces at the security camera pointing at me. I even made myself laugh lightly at times because of my stupidity. Shows what a bored 17-year-old girl will do to entertain herself.

I sighed and tilted my head back to look at the ceiling. Thinking. My past was very depressing to think about, but what else did I have to think about at moment? I was bored out of my mind. So I thought about songs. _How many do I know?_ I thought. _Well, several if I'm allowed to follow the tune and words on a piece of paper. Haven't come across that kind of luxury in awhile…_ I sighed again. _So what do I know by heart?_ I asked myself. _Well, I make up stuff, and I know parts of 'Amazing Grace', 'Fields of Gold'… hm… I know some musical numbers from Fiddler on the Roof, and 'Memory' from CATS. But mostly I do just make it up when I have the time. Hm…_ I thought, and looked around the room again. _There's no one here. I could sing without embarrassing myself. I takes awhile to warm up my voice anyways…_

I breathed, and on the out breath, I hummed. High and low, I warmed up my voice, trying to make the sound of it as honey-like as I could, dripping with richness. Then I opened my mouth and sung. Though rather quietly at first.

"Through the spring's gaze of sunshine,

Through summer's warm embrace,

In the cooling autumn's whisper,

In the winter's cold snow,

I spent many a day and many a year,

Waiting for the next season,

Waiting for the time to come again,

The time I can smile happily…" I trailed off. It was a cute tune and lyrics, but completely and utterly ridiculous. I sighed.

"You are my sunshine,

My one and only,

You make me happy,

When skies are-" My voice caught in my throat as my eyes started to water. That one was no good. My mother used to sing that to me before she died. I wouldn't be able to sing it without crying. A random tune popped into my head, and I knew it wasn't mine, but I only remembered one line.

"One step at a time,

There's no need to rush,

It's like learning to fly,

Or falling in love…" Ok, so it was more of a verse, but that was all I knew. I repeated it a few more times, hoping that the rest of it would come to me, but no such luck. I sighed.

"If I were a rich man…" I grinned big at the words my mouth formed. _How ridiculous. I _am _a rich man. Or woman really…_ I thought, and my smile started to fade. _That is… if Takashi can take me in… he's the only family I really have left._ _Without him, I have nothing but hollow memories and old friends…_ I sighed, and started to hum the tune of 'Memory'.

"Memory, not a sound from the pavement,

Has the moon lost her memory?

She is smiling alone…" I lost all desire to sing, and laid back against the hospital bed. 'Memory' was a particularly sad song, but it turned out happy at the end.

"Up, up, up, up to the Heavyside Layer,

Up, up above to the Heavyside Layer…" I sang the ending of that particular scene under my breath. Her happy ending was death, but she had been accepted by the society she had turned her back on long ago. _I wonder if I'll ever be accepted… an assassin like me…_ I felt very depressed now, and I closed my eyes as I heard the hospital waking up for the day. I sighed, and I hummed the last tune.

'_Up, up, up, up to the Heavyside Layer,_

_Up, up above to the Heavyside Layer…"_


	11. The Love Between Cousins

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Just some fluff. I dedicate this chapter to KraDEJDarK for one of my most helpful reviews! Thank you!

Enjoy! And don't forget to **REVIEW**!

* * *

I was the first one to arrive at the hospital the next day to see my cousin. It was too early for Hunny to wake up since it was a weekend, so I was alone. The mood of the hospital was sleepy, but it was slowly waking up, nurses pushing around carts of breakfast trays around the hospital, much like you would see on an economy airplane. Moreover, it was quiet as I walked up to the front desk. The woman sitting there looked tired, a mug of coffee steaming in front of her as she looked up at me.

"I'm here to see my cousin, Miyako Morinozuka." I said, and she nodded without a word and typed something into her computer. Reading what she saw on the screen, she pressed a button on her phone and spoke.

"Family member of Miyako Morinozuka has come to visit." She released the button and waited, staring dully at the computer screen. The phone buzzed.

"Send him in." The woman nodded sleepily at me, and turned her screen so I could see, and pointed to my cousin's room number. I scanned the information quickly.

"Your cousin is on the fifth-" _Fourth. _ I corrected her in my head. She blinked and went to rub her eye, but remembering her makeup, went for the coffee instead, blinking. "Sorry, fourth floor in room…" She paused and squinted slightly this time to make sure she was right. I smiled slightly at her. _She sure is tired. It's room 667._ "-667 in the East wing. Here's a map." She said, rummaging in her desk drawers and drawing out a small, glossy, folded-up, brochure-like map and unfolded a certain section of it, folding it so the east wing was obvious. "You are here." She said, drawing a small red dot where I was standing in front of the desk, concentrating fully on it. She found room 667 on the map and drew another dot. "You want to go here. You'll want to go to the elevators," she said, drawing a line from where I was standing to the elevators behind the desk, and drew another, smaller dot inside the elevator. "Once you get to the fourth floor, you'll turn left, and it's the tenth door on the right." She said, drawing the line as she spoke, and poked the dot that stood in front of door 667 as if to punctuate her point. I smiled slightly. _Tired people can be funny sometimes…_ I thought to myself. She looked up at me with a tired, pretty smile and handed me the map. "Have a nice visit, sir." I blinked and smiled, giving her a short, polite bow before turning and walking away. _Sir? Do I look that old? _I thought. It was the first time I'd been called it.

Looking at the map, I saw a stairwell that would put me right in front of Miyako's door, and took a left around a corner and went through the door there and began climbing. It wasn't very long before I was standing in front of Miyako's door, where a nurse was busy navigating out the door, backing out trying to pull a breakfast cart after her and trying to keep the door open while she did so. Seeing that she was having a hard time of it, I reached out and held the door for her. She looked up in surprise when she felt the weight lift, and smiled gratefully at me.

"Thank you, sir. Are you here to see your cousin?" I blinked. _Word travels fast._ I nodded with a gentle expression, and she smiled widely at me. "Well go on in! I've just given her her breakfast, so you can help her eat if she's having a hard time of it." She said, and pushed the cart off happily. I blinked after her for second, then turned my gaze into the room, closing the door after me. I walked in a little and saw her, looking at her food with a little bit of a frown on her face, and my breath caught in my throat. _She's grown up to be beautiful._ I thought, stunned. My little girl cousin with a sad story. _She's beautiful._

"Miyako." She looked up with a silent, surprised gasp.

"Takashi?"

* * *

I couldn't eat. I was hungry, but I couldn't eat because lifting my arm jarred my ribs, which had been fused only last night by the doctors who took care of me. So I was still unbelievably sore. I sighed. The Ootori hospitals seemed to have the huge advantage of having real, delicious-looking food for their patients, but the disadvantage was that I was too sore to move.

"Miyako." I nearly jumped out of my skin, because I hadn't heard anyone come in after the nurse. Normally I would be able to sense someone in any kind of situation, so it was strange, my being surprised by that deep voice. I looked up, and when I saw him, my eyes widened in surprise as I gasped. A part of me recognized my seven-year-old cousin from when I was six, but…he was a giant now…

"Takashi?" I breathed, feeling my heart beat under the suspense. Then he smiled, his face lighting up exactly as I remembered. I couldn't help but gasp again, but thankfully much more lightly this time. I smiled, and my eyes started to tear up, which was a little strange, because I was never really one to show too much emotion at the drop of a coin. "Oh my god…" I breathed, reaching out for him, and seeing his blurred from move closer and take my hand. Such huge hands now. So many things to say ran through my head, and I chose the safest one to say. "It's been so long, squirt." I smiled, and by the way he lightly squeezed my hand, I could tell he remembered too. Back when he was seven, and I was six, he was actually shorter than me. Just by guessing, I just about came up to the center of his chest now. Calling him that was surely a contradiction now, 'cause he was so tall. I took a shaky breath and tried to wipe my eyes on my shoulder, only to have Takashi reach up and do it for me.

My eyes clear now, I smiled at him and whispered a 'thanks.'- I couldn't get over how much he'd changed. I wet my lips and looked at him again. It was somewhat startling to see how much of a man he'd become. _He truly grew up._

"You've grown up, Takashi." He smiled slightly, his eyes sad, and my smile faded away.

"You too." He said, and he sighed, taking a seat next to my bed, still holding onto my hand. "I saw you come in last night." He said briefly, and I listened patiently. Takashi never was one much for words, and he usually didn't speak very much after a long conversation, even though he mostly didn't talk anyways. "I recognized you, and followed you, and read your energy." He paused and looked down. This was his way of sighing. He looked back up at me. "You had very sad energy. Felt like tears and dust and sad. So I asked to know why." I felt dread building up inside me. I felt like I knew where this was going. "I saw how your family-"

"Don't." I said, and I squeezed his hand gently, looking at my lap, trying not to cry, and failing as a few tears made their way down my cheeks. "Please don't." I said, my voice starting to choke up. I was shaking slightly, and I felt Takashi squeeze my hand gently and then let go. My vision was blurred, so I looked up, confused. "Takashi?"

"Open up." I blinked, and tilted my head to the side curiously. I could practically feel him smile. "Food." I opened my mouth, and he carefully put some warm scrambled eggs in with a fork, and I sighed, smiling as I chewed. _Delicious._ I thought, and my stomach growled its appreciation. _It's been way too long. _Since I last had food like this. I squeezed my eyes shut to get the last drops of moisture out of my eyes, and I felt Takashi's thumb on my cheek again, wiping them away. I smiled as he dried my tears, opening them and smiling when he was done.

"Thank you." I whispered. He smiled.

* * *

**A/N:** Review!!!


	12. Tell Us Apart

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **I hope you like! This chapter is dedicated to those who read it. REVIEW! Enjoy!

* * *

After a couple of days, I was allowed to leave the hospital after my ribs had fully healed and when the bruising on my neck disappeared. I was able to feed myself, and was itching for some kind of movement at least, even though the stab wound on my leg was still healing, and still in quite a bit of pain, since the dagger had sliced through some fascia. So it was only after I had consented to have my leg put in a brace to limit the movement of that leg to nil, with only a single crutch to keep me balanced as my only way of being able to walk with that leg was to swing it from the hip. Nearly funny in a ridiculous way, but the slight pain took most of the humor out of the situation.

So that was how I found Takashi carrying me from his limo to his house, the adorable 17-year-old I came to know as Hunny bouncing out of the car, and practically skipping alongside Takashi as they walked up to the front door, my right leg sticking straight out like a tree limb. I'd get over it, and somehow, I found watching Hunny's head bouncing in and out of view over my cousin's arm very entertaining, and I couldn't help but smile after awhile. That kid was just too cute to be true, and I felt that Usa-chan- his toy bunny- quite suited him with his bouncy behavior. I smiled, it showing up in my eyes. _He's just too cute._ I thought, and I resolved that as soon as my leg was fully healed, I'd pick him up for a cuddle and walk with him. _He's just too cute._ I wanted to cuddle him now. _Good thing he likes to be cuddled._ I mused. _Lots of kids don't like that. Not to mention he's my age…_

Takashi stopped in front of the front doors to his traditional Japanese mansion, and Hunny bounced up to open them as if by a silent request. Takashi navigated me and my leg carefully through the door, and once inside, I was met with a surprise. The Host club was waiting there. Yes, I knew about them, Takashi and Hunny had told me about the club they were in, called the 'Host Club' that was created to keep girls happy- even though Hunny did most of the talking.

Tamaki Souh, the tall blonde, who was the 'Princely' type, was standing in front of the group with a red rose and a snake-charmer's smile. I nearly turned my head into Takashi's shoulder in embarrassment, but settled for looking at the ceiling with half an eye-roll. _Idiot._ I gave him a new title instantly. I didn't even want to read his energy, even though he was radiating it over-enthusiastically like a sun about to super-nova. I had a feeling I'd just… wasn't ready for that. Maybe later.

Kyoya Ootori was standing to Tamaki's right, the complete opposite of Tamaki, like the dark side of the moon, unbelievably cool. There was a lot I didn't know about him, and the first time I read his energy, I didn't strike very deep, since I wasn't exactly in the best situation to know that much about him. However, Hunny had told me that he was the third son of the Ootori family, and that a lot of stress came with that. So I laid off of him for now.

Next was Haruhi, who was standing to the blonde idiot's left, who had been 'affectionately' titled 'daughter' by the 'Host King' that was Tamaki. _Poor girl._ I learned that she was the only female host in the host club, to pay off the debt she owed for breaking some kind of a vase. Kyoya would raise and lower her debt as it suited him and the rest of the club. I couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for her, but she was strong, and very blunt, and she never let the host club get her down if she could help it. She was the 'Natural Rookie' as the club had called. To me, it was obvious that she would be a natural. _After all, it takes a girl to know a girl._

Then there were the twins standing behind the first three, and they looked unbelievably gloomy. I couldn't help but worry when I saw them like that, and they weren't even looking at me, so I couldn't see their eyes. I reached out to read their energy, and I saw that they were feeling very guilty and sad. Guilty over me, though I felt that Kaoru felt more pain than Hikaru did, and sad… I guess they felt sad because they thought they had failed somehow.

All that took about half a minute, and Tamaki was now sweeping me an over-the-top grand bow and presenting me the rose with that snake charmer's smile. It made me shiver a bit and lean slightly into Takashi. _What a… weirdo._

"A red rose for a heroic Rose, who saved our twins and brought them back home." His voice was like liquid silver, and it freaked me out slightly. Never in my life, had I EVER met anyone like this kid. He looked up at me with glassy eyes, and I jumped a little, making Takashi smile slightly. "I couldn't find a rose as beautiful as you to thank you for your brave deeds, but I wished to know if you'd grace me with your presence."

I was leaning into Takashi now, as I waited for the creepy kid to say something else, and when he just stood there with the rose in his hand extended towards me, I decided to do something. So I reached forward tentatively, took the rose between my forefinger and thumb and dropped it on my lap like it had some sort of disease while cradling the blossom gently in my other hand as I watched him as he straightened back up and smiled at me in a way that I'm sure he thought was charmingly, but I saw as dopey. I took a breath, looking at him warily.

"You're really strange." I said bluntly, and his eyes widened for a split second in surprise, while I heard Hikaru and Kaoru snort with laughter behind him. I looked up and smiled at their happiness. _At least they're laughing now._ I looked back at the 'Prince', who was now frantically searching for something to say. I couldn't help but smile. _Aw, he's so cute when he's confused. _"-But you look like a cute little puppy when you're confused, so I guess I can get to know you." Tamaki blinked in confusion, looking at me, and the twins were now on the floor, holding their sides because they were laughing so hard. I smiled at them. I was glad to see them happy. I looked at Takashi, who looked at me with a smile in his eyes. "Could I walk now?" I asked, and he nodded, bending over to carefully set me on my feet with a large hand on my belly to support me with his arm supporting my back. I had one hand on his wrist, and the other out for balance as he set me carefully down on my left foot, Hunny reaching to hold my free hand.

I smiled gratefully at him as my foot got a good purchase on the floor, and Takashi let go of me once I got my right leg under me. The brace was pretty uncomfortable, but I could deal with it. Hunny smiled cutely at me from around my chest-height and gave me my crutch once I let go. It was one of those crutches you slipped your wrist through and held onto a handle to support yourself. Just as uncomfortable as the leg brace, but at least I could walk. It felt good to move, as I walked carefully between Takashi and Hunny as we made our way to the living room, everyone else following us.

* * *

She would've looked just the same, if the leg brace she had to wear hadn't made her leg stick straight out of Takashi's arms like a pole. She looked just the same, but I couldn't look at her. I felt so ashamed. _It's because of us that she's like this. Just look at her…_ I thought as I looked sadly up at her. She had made Hikaru and I laugh earlier by making fun of Tamaki, but I could tell that she was having a hard time walking, but she didn't make a sound or complain. I sighed, watching her back. _She's so different from us…_ I realized sadly. _It's been half a year since she lost her family, and I far as I can tell, she's been living on her own since then, crashing at Daisuke's place mainly, I guess…_ I couldn't help but admire her in a way. _Living the life of a modern-day ninja, with the absent love of her family… their deaths hanging over her head and swearing revenge on those who stole them from her…_

I wasn't looking where I was going, I was so lost in my thoughts, that it was only because of Rose's- I mean, Miyako's- hand on my chest that stopped me from walking into her. I blinked, and saw her kind smile, looking at me. _She's beautiful._ I thought, and blinked again. _What? Sure, she's gorgeous, but…_ I twitched a smile at her, distracted, and she smiled, walking beside me, and made sure to slow down to her pace.

"Penny for your thoughts, Kaoru?" she asked, limping, and I all but froze, Rose- no, Miyako- stopping and turning to look at me curiously. _She can tell us apart. She can tell us apart. _It seemed as though my heart was beating that message to me, and I was suddenly aware that everyone else had gone on ahead, Hikaru by Haruhi's side. I had to ask, and I walked up to her and put my hand gently on her shoulder, my eyes burning with intensity. She frowned at my seriousness.

"How can you tell us apart?" I asked, and she blinked, seemingly surprised.

"What?" I sighed. This was very important for me to know, even though some would consider it a silly question. It was important to me.

"How can you tell us apart? Hikaru and I?" I repeated, and she smiled uncertainly.

"You two might look alike, but you are different." She said, and I tensed with surprise, my eyes opening wide. _ That's _exactly_ what Haruhi said…_ I was amazed. _The exact same words!?_ She brushed my hand off her shoulder, and I stood in front of her in surprise, my mouth hanging open slightly. She took in a deep breath and put her weight into her left leg. "I can tell you two apart because of who I am." She explained, and I closed my mouth. "I was brought up being able to read a person's energy, and I taught Takashi how to do it when I was six, so he should be able to tell you apart too." She said plainly, and if I was in a cartoon, my jaw would've hit the floor this time. _**Mori!?!?!**__ Mori can tell us apart?!?! Why didn't he say anything?! _I thought, completely surprised that the silent protector had probably been able to tell us apart as soon as meeting us, but knowing him, he probably thought that it wasn't a big deal.

Rose- Miyako, smiled at me and rubbed the back of her neck with a small sigh. "Though to me, you and Hikaru have always been as different as night and day, yet still somehow fitting into the single entity that is time." I was amazed by what she said. _She could be a poet._ "Like spring and summer, different seasons, but still the same in their meaning. In your relationship, you are spring, and Hikaru is summer. You create the environment to sustain life, and he takes over when there's nothing more you can do. You would be a breeze, and he would be the winds in a gale. While you have a soft personality, his is rough, and together you make two halves of a whole. Yin and Yang, perfectly balanced, completely the same, and yet completely different." She smiled at me and leaned forward, giving me a hug, breaking me out of my stunned state, and returning it. She sighed and leaned away. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was your life story, in fact." She said solemnly, and then she smiled, and I blinked. "By the way, you smell nice." She said as she turned and walked slowly off down the hallway with a well-disguised limp.

My face heated up. _I smell nice?_ I thought, and I couldn't help the small, childish smile that crept across my face as I cooled off, sniffing my collar. I didn't smell anything. I looked after her, blinking. I tilted my head slightly to the side and smiled a little. _I'm glad she likes it._ I thought, and jogged slightly to catch up with her, a warm feeling filling me up inside.

_She can tell us apart._


	13. School

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** I hope I went the right way with this. Enjoy! Don't forget to REVIEW!

* * *

School started up again for the guys on Monday, and it was on Sunday that I made an instant decision.

"I'm going to school with you guys." The guys had spent the night, and we were all in the dinning room now, eating dinner. They all looked at me in surprise, but I was determined, and I don't change my mind easily when it's made up. You'd have more luck asking a brick wall to move aside for you, really.

I had heard them talk about Ouran Academy, and I had to say that I liked what I heard. I hadn't been to any kind of a school for six months unless my instincts led me to one to save somebody, and that was only once. I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would work out, and that I would get to know everyone in my cousin's little group of friends better there, and that I'd blend into their group faster that way.

So that was how I found myself hobbling awkwardly fast down a hall of Ouran Academy, trying desperately not to be late to my next class. I had given up on trying to limp over the weekend. It was just too plain uncomfortable to keep it up for long. The brace rubbed somewhat painfully in certain places at times, and to keep it up for days… like a snowball's chance in hell was I going to keep it up. So I got quite a few funny looks as I hobbled as fast as I could, having given up on my crutch, because I just didn't want that thing around with my new book bag hanging over my shoulder.

Now, technically, I wasn't a student yet. With some persuasion to his father on Tamaki's part _(yeah, yeah, though the guy was an idiot, he still was useful…)_, this was my trial day. If I impressed the teachers, I would be allowed to stay, my having rescued two of his best students having put me in his good graces, and I was trying my hardest not to let his expectations of me down- glancing at my watch and noticing how little time I had until class- even if I had to use some… unconventional methods.

I hobbled quickly over to the wall nearest to me, where there was a decorative lion's head jutting out of the wall, and taking my bag off, I hung it by the strap over the lion's snout. Without a second thought, I put my hands over my head, and leaned forward, successfully standing on my hands, and unhooking the strap of my bag with my foot, so that it slipped into the groove of my shoe. Thank god I was allowed to wear the guy's uniform until my leg healed, 'cause otherwise this little stunt would have been completely embarrassing- however, it _was_ a much faster way to get to class with my injured leg out of the way. Even if I could feel that the floors were somewhat sticky with my bare hands. _Note to self:_ I thought as I ignored the wide-eyed, open-mouthed looks I was getting. I didn't care if it got me to class in time. _–tell Tamaki that the floors need cleaning._

Then there I was, in front of my closed classroom door with my bag hanging over my shoe, wondering how I'd get back on my feet with an injured leg, and how on earth would I get inside? Thankfully, Takashi showed up then.

He couldn't help but smile at my awkward situation, I could tell, and with only a pleading look and an amused smile, he took my bag off my foot, putting it over his shoulder, grasped my good ankle and lifted me up, turning me around and setting me back down right-side up. I smiled at him gratefully as he handed me my bag. I slipped it over my shoulder and gave him a hug, earning a few jealous glares from a few stray girls in the hallway. I caught one and rolled my eyes. _Get a life._

"Thanks Takashi." I whispered, and he smiled, placing his hand on my head and ruffling my hair slightly. I smiled back up at him as I let go. That was his way of saying _'Anytime.'_ At least in this situation that was what it meant. Takashi moved on down the hall to his lunch break as I was opening the door to my classroom.

"Ah, Miyako Morinozuka, is it? You're right on time." _Teach has a nice voice._

* * *

At the end of the day, I could only hope I did well in my classes as I trudged rather awkwardly to the third music room. It seemed that the teachers had either one of two obvious responses of me when they first saw me. Usually, when they saw me, they were surprised to see a girl wearing a boy's uniform, since nobody outside the host club knew Haruhi was a girl- and I obviously was one, because I had some well-sized breasts that filled out the suit jacket rather well. The other teachers- mostly men- liked what they saw, and I could tell that they weren't looking at my eyes when they were talking to me.

I rolled my eyes as I leaned against the wall for a quick rest. The third music room door was just around the corner, and I moved on, sighing. _Just because they're teachers doesn't mean they're mature… maybe wearing the girl's uniform wouldn't be that bad…_ I thought, and rounding the corner I saw a crowd of pale banana/strong vanilla colored dresses giggling and gasping in front of the host club doors, and I was severely tempted to puke. _On second thought… what's the greater of two evils? Wearing _that_ hideous thing or… having guy teachers gawk at my breasts all year?_ I didn't like either very much, but I had to make a choice if I had one sooner or later. I waited on the other side of the hall from the group of girls for the doors to open, and when they did, I was surprised at how much the girls in their yellow dresses resembled grains of sand falling through an hourglass as they all rushed inside. Blinking, I followed at a much slower and much more awkward pace. It was a couple of minutes before I got inside, and when I did- it was very hard not to double over laughing.

Tahiti. The host club was in Tahiti while in Japan. A huge grin slowly spread across my face, and I was trying my hardest not to laugh. _Oh…my…god! He _really _went all out!_ I was silently shaking with laughter now, trying to repress any sounds coming from me by putting my hand over my mouth. There were palm trees, live parrots, an artificial waterfall somewhere because I could hear it, the heating was turned up, and there was actually a thin layer of sand on the floor. Not forgetting that the host club was dressed up like natives, apart from Haruhi who seemed to have point-blank refused to wear whatever they had picked out for her, having only removed her jacket in the heat. I was silently gasping for air now, holding my side as it was aching with suppressed laughter. _Oh my god…_ I thought, and absent-mindedly wiped a tear from my eye, grinning. _This is just two funny!_

Kaoru and Hikaru bounced over to me in their cosplay, the cloth that was wrapped around their hips fluttering dangerously in the breeze they created, and my laughter died as I eyed their 'skirts' warily. They stopped in front of me, arm in arm and tilted their heads the same way at the same time curiously. I looked at them, and they were frowning curiously.

"What's that look for?" they said in sync with each other, and it was slightly unnerving to say the least. Still, I warned them, pointed to their 'skirts'.

"Better be careful with your bouncing, of you might moon or flash someone." Twins eyes widened in surprise at looked at each other before looking back at me.

"We hadn't thought of that." They said in sync again, and it was really starting to ruffle my proverbial feathers. I didn't like their act very much, and I felt myself subconsciously starting to shrink away from them. I didn't really want to admit it, but I _couldn't read them_ when they were doing that, and in a way, I was somewhat afraid of them at the moment. My subconscious instincts were starting to take over, and they were screaming at me to get away from them. The twins were just starting to look at me in concern when I felt Takashi pick me up.

Although somewhat regretfully, to me it was a welcome relief to be freed from the twins' act, because it was just about to send me on overload. I just didn't know how to deal with that sort of energy confusion the twins were creating, and I tucked my head slightly into Takashi's shoulder as he held me bridal style, my leg sticking out like usual. I guess Takashi gave them a look, and then carried me elsewhere.

He had chosen the spot by the artificial waterfall, and I found it very soothing as I closed my eyes and breathed. Takashi's arms were the best place for me to meditate, for the simple matter of that's were I felt safest. I just knew that with Takashi around, no harm could ever come to me, even though with my training, his protection wasn't necessary, but it sure did give me a lot of peace.

He set me gently against a soft couch just as I heard Hunny's sweet voice asking if I was alright as I became aware of a slight pressure dent in the couch next to me. I just couldn't help myself then as I felt him leaning closer to me. My cuteness reactor just exploded as I snapped my eyes open with a smile and an almost inaudible coo deep in my throat as I reached out in a flash and hugged him. He was stiff with surprise at first, but then he just snuggled right down in my lap. Inside my head, I was doing a Tahiti victory dance as I smiled happily on the outside. _Yes!_ My little Tahiti dancer in my head screamed happily. _Yes!_ I finally got to cuddle him, my adorable senior, as I found out last night that he was actually older than me, even though he looked about a decade younger.

It was only when the girls squealed a few seconds later that I realized that we were being watched. By six squealing girls in banana yellow dresses, and I was blushing from embarrassment before I even knew that I was. I reluctantly let Hunny go then, but he didn't get off of my lap. He was cuddling Usa-chan who was also in a Tahiti outfit, and pretending to be asleep. It was when I lightly touched his cheek that he looked up at me and winked. My heart melted instantly, and I wrapped my arms around him once again, blushing lightly. I was embarrassed that I was such a sucker for cuteness.

_I guess I do want to have a kid someday…_ the thought snuck in without my realizing it until I had thought it, and I was surprised. _A kid…_ I thought, and it was a new one to me, as I imagined myself holding a small child that looked like me. It made my breath catch and my heart stutter- and all of a sudden I realized how much I wanted it. _Oh god…_ I thought, and I was sad. After all the fights I had been in, who knew if I could have a child or not. Half-aware of what I was doing, I held Hunny a little closer to me as I was lost in thought, and he looked up at me slightly, puzzled as I stared blankly straight ahead.

Then I saw Kaoru looking at me in concern, and the image I had in my mind changed instantly. Kaoru and I standing side by side, a few years older, each with a happy, dark-ginger haired child in our arms. This image burned even more than the first, and I rested my head on Hunny's with a sad sigh as I felt Takashi's hand softly rub my shoulder. _Like Kaoru would ever be interested in me…_ I thought, and slowly I became aware of just how much Takashi's rubbing my shoulder just wasn't helping, so I shot him an image of someone rubbing my back between my shoulder blades, and his hand gradually moved so that he was rubbing circles between my shoulder blades with his fingers as his hand was too big to actually fit between them at the moment. Needless to say I relaxed instantly, and Hunny 'woke up' and pushed me back slightly as I started to doze off on top of him with a smile. Hunny shook with head with a smile at my 'blissed out' expression, and eventually he crawled off my lap when my arms went limp, and it was clear that I had fallen asleep. I had had a long day, and trying to walk with a leg brace on all day certainly took it out of me. Wouldn't it take it out of anyone?

* * *

**A/N:** Awww!


	14. Jungle Pool SOS!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Please review! Enjoy!

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Oh! It felt so good to finally be able to take that stupid leg brace off! I had been going to the doctor's every Friday for a month for checkups on how my leg was healing, and there had been no infections, and it healed up like it had never been there before. I was as good as new! Well, nearly.

After all this time in a brace, my legs were woefully uneven in muscle mass, my right leg looking like a stick and my left leg looking like it belong to a muscle woman. I tried to walk on my own after taking the brace off, but it was impossible. I'd step onto my right leg and nearly collapse, then nearly put myself through the roof with my left leg to make up for the weakness of my right. So Takashi carried me again, my legs feeling gruesomely uneven, but at least one of them wasn't sticking out like a sore thumb this time.

Kaoru didn't know what I had seen in my mind's eye last chapter, and I wasn't going to let him know. I'd rather get old first. It was in the limo going back home that Tamaki had the brainstorm that everyone should go to Kyoya's family theme park that the Ootori group owned and have a good time tomorrow, since it was the weekend. Takashi and I looked at each other and then nodded at Tamaki who then went about calling up the others starting with Kyoya to get permission, and nearly shouting his 'great' idea.

The Next Day

It was called 'Water Aqua Garden' or something like that, which I thought was kind of silly, because water and aqua are basically the same thing. Anyways, the twins 'abducted' Haruhi a few hours ago and brought her here, because they seemed to know that she wouldn't come if they just asked her. So Kaoru was helping me walk to the changing room while Hikaru was dragging a struggling Haruhi along just in front of us.

Kaoru had explained that since Haruhi and I didn't have swimsuits that they were giving us our choice of their mother's designer swimsuits as a gift. I smiled and thanked him for that, unable to stop myself from pecking him on the cheek, and making him turn a color to put his hair to shame. He tried hiding it, but I thought it was sweet. At the door to the girl's dressing room, we met two twin maids of Hikaru and Kaoru's, and they took us inside, leaving the boys outside the door.

I was amazed at how many rails of suits there were, and I limped into them without a second thought to find something to wear as the twin maids tried to work with Haruhi. _One piece…_ I thought, looking around at what they had, shedding my clothes and standing there in my underwear. I shook my head subtly. _No…not of this range… the bikinis look nice…_ I thought, limping over to that section. Then I saw the perfect one. It was black with subtle red highlights, the top having a loose sort of Greek look on the outside while having a firm cup to support my breasts on the inside to give my breasts support for athletic movement, all the while managing to pull off the look of a somewhat modern bikini top without being too loose. Then the bottoms looked like typical black bikini bottoms with red highlights, only that this one had a detachable black, style-style skirt. I smirked. _Found it. The boys'll go bananas over this…_ I thought, taking it off the rail and going to a more secluded corner to change. I stopped by the door to see Haruhi holding a doll-like, pink, one-piece swimsuit and smiled at her as she looked desperately at me.

"Good choice, Ms. Fujioka." I said before turning the door handle and exiting. There stood Kaoru. His eyes went wide when he saw me with my hand on the door handle, his mouth slowly dropping open as he looked me over. I flashed a smirk at him, and he blinked as I turned around with a limp to close the door. My hair was down, and there was a slight cinch in it from where my hair band was usually in it, but nonetheless, my dark hair fell very nicely over my shoulders, shining like silk. When I turned back to look at him, he was looking at me with awe clearly written in his face. I frowned slightly. _Not quite what I was expecting, but ok…_ I thought, and I tilted my head to the side curiously, and he took in a breath of air. I blinked when thought that I didn't know how long he'd been holding it. He looked as if he needed it. Without a word, he took my hand, linked it into his elbow and guided me around to the men's changing room. I was a little bit wary at this point, but I trusted him. He stopped in front of the door.

"Hikaru." He called out. I blinked.

"Yes, Kaoru?" _Oh, he's getting changed._ I thought with a quick frown, glancing at Kaoru. _Why didn't he go with him?_

"What do you think about using Rose- sorry- Miyako as a model?" I smiled as Kaoru slipped up over what name to call me. _So he does care. He's stumbling._ I thought, and looked towards the door as it opened.

"Rose?" He asked his brother curiously, and then his gaze fell on me, his face instantly transforming to show an astonished version of his brother's previous expression. He picked his jaw up off the ground. "Oh…" He said as Kaoru stepped back smugly and Hikaru began to circle me. "-my…" he said behind me. "-god." He said, back in front of me again, looking me up and down just like his brother, but somehow he seemed more professional about it. He looked back at my face, and I threw him a slightly flirty, but mostly a 'come-on-I-know-I-look-good' look, and he looked back at Kaoru with an excited look. "She's PERFECT!" He exclaimed, and I blinked,

"Perfect for what?" I asked, and he looked at me like I was oblivious, which I was.

"Modeling for our company, that's what!" he exclaimed again, and I was surprised. _Whoa._ I thought, blinking a bit. He turned to Kaoru, and the two of them joined hands and started doing a victory dance. "She was right under our noses all this time, and we never noticed! She SAVED us for god's sake!" I was having a hard time grasping onto what they were saying, but I did know one thing. I wasn't ready for this yet.

"Maybe that's why." I said coolly, and they froze in their victory dance and turned to look at me in concern.

"What?" They asked in unison, and I closed my eyes, wincing inside. _I hate it when they do that._ I looked up at them and shrugged a bit. I didn't know what to think.

"I mean, someone who saves people doesn't really come to mind as a model, does she?" I asked rhetorically. "I wouldn't expect it." The two blinked.

"But you'd make a beautiful model." That was in unison again, but it was a compliment, and it somehow made it more bearable. I smiled slightly and looked off to the side. I didn't blush _too_ easily.

"Thanks." I said softly, and looked back at them. They were waiting for my reaction. "Let me think about it, ok?" I asked and they nodded solemnly.

"Of course." I smiled and nodded to them gracefully before turning around and limping towards the water, taking my skirt off and laying it on one of the chairs as I went past. The water felt great, and I walked over to one of the walls and held on, kicking my legs up behind me so that I was floating. _Time for some physical therapy._

I went at it for about an hour or so, determinedly working to make my right leg muscles stronger again but without pushing it too far. It was amazing how many breaks it needed, but I was going to make sure that their strength was going to be even again. Haruhi came out in a yellow hoodie and some green striped shorts around then, and they were talking about just random things like those little inflatable pools kids swim in and such. It was really kinda silly that the twins didn't know what they were, but they _had_ lived a rather secluded life, so I guessed I could let them off the hook.

The twins had somehow just gotten Tamaki to have a water fight with them when I sat with my legs in the current pool watching Hunny as Takashi got out for a break. He put a hand on my head and smiled affectionately down at me, and I did the same, looking up at him. _I'm so glad I have him._ I thought as I heard him walk back to stand under Haruhi's umbrella.

Then Tamaki slipped on a banana peel, and I turned around to watch him, wincing sympathetically as I watched him hit the Hawaiian something-or-other pole. Then the pole's several eyes lit up red. I had a bad feeling about that, and suddenly I heard Hunny stop giggling, but didn't think much of it. Then-

"Mitsukuni!" Takashi yelled, and I looked at him starting to run our way, and seeing the look on his face, I turned sharply to see Hunny looking up in surprise at a tidal wave. I didn't need to think twice. I jumped in and grabbed hold of him just before the wave hit us, Hunny's bunny print inner tube flying up into the air as I shielded Hunny from the bruising impact of the wave, taking a huge breath before we went under.

I lost all track of where we were and where we were going, and I felt myself growing dizzy, but I held onto Hunny with all I had. I was _not _going to let him go, no matter what- until the wave stopped pushing us or when we could safely get out of the water.

We landed on a beach. A small beach I noticed as I opened my eyes and looked around- hardly 5 feet wide, and about 12 long- but it was a beach, nonetheless. We had landed on our sides, and for a moment, Hunny didn't move.

I got so scared.

"Hunny! Hunny!" I said shaking him gently before pulling him into a sitting position and slapping his back for some reason. "Wake up!" Hunny coughed up water, and opened his eyes blearily.

"Mori?" He asked blearily, and I sighed with relief, pulling him into my lap and holding him for a moment on the sand.

"Oh, thank god you're alright…" I murmured before turning him around to look at him, gently stroking his face and brushing his wet hair out of his eyes. I looked into his eyes to make sure he was fully there, and thankfully, he was getting there. It was just like he was waking up. "No Hunny," I said. "-it's me, Rose." I said, and then blinked. "-Or Miyako if you want to call me that. We got swept away by that wave, but you're safe now." I explained gently to the adorable boy, still holding his face in my hands for some reason as he put his hands on mine and pushed them away as his eyes became clear.

"You saved me?" He asked innocently, his blue eyes huge. I smiled at him.

"If you want to put it that way, then yeah." I said, and suddenly he hugged me.

* * *

This was my fault. I knew this was my fault. If I hadn't slipped on that same banana peel that Tamaki slipped on, I would've been able to save Hunny and pull Miyako out of the way in time. Instead I slipped on that stupid banana peel and let the wave wash them away. _This is all my fault._

"Mori-senpai." I felt a small, soft hand touch just above my elbow gently where I was leaning on the wall of the hut we were taking shelter under during the squall. I turned, and there was Haruhi looking at me with slightly worried eyes that held a bit of respect. It had been a long time since I last saw those kind of eyes. "-it'll be alright." She continued. "Hunny-senpai is safe. He's tougher than you might think, and he has Miyako with him. And if they get hungry, there are lots of bananas on the trees." I looked at her for a moment, and if I was anyone else, I would've blinked. _She's trying to make me feel better._ I realized, and I smiled, putting my hand on her head, and she made a sound of surprise.

"Yeah." I said, feeling a bit better now, turning back to watch the rain, or really- watching the forest. Miyako had taught me how to find people with my instincts when I was seven, and that instinct was kicking in now. I just _knew_ that my cousins were over there. I glanced at Haruhi who stayed by my side, and gave her a small smile she didn't see. _Thank you, Haruhi._ I thought, and sniffed the air as I smelled the squall starting to end.

* * *

Hunny was eating a banana and sitting in a tree while watching me trying to beat away a parrot that was currently trying to take my bikini top off with it's beak without my hurting it, both me and it shrieking in equal measure. If the others didn't find us on their own volition, they would certainly hear us with the racket the parrot and I were making.

The bird had found us after it started to rain, swooping into the random hut we had found just off of the little beach, and it had followed us afterwards, and attacked me when Hunny was climbing up a banana tree like he normally did with Takashi to get some bananas for us to eat. This damn bird however, was damned persistent, and it was when the back came undone and my breasts started to slip out that I finally screamed and punched it with a right hook straight to it's head, making it fall to the ground and not move. When Hunny was staring at it in surprise, I quickly took that chance to get myself back together, blushing beet red. _Damn bird…_ I muttered in my head.

"Did you kill it?" I looked up as Hunny came up to me and handed me a banana, looking at the bird curiously. He didn't sound angry or sad, just curious. Which was kind of strange for me think about him being neither of the two, but maybe he had realized that the damn bird had gotten my tits out. I shrugged after murmuring a 'thank you' and opening the banana, to which Hunny nodded calmly to in response, still looking at the bird.

"I dunno." I said. "I hope not, 'cause I don't have the money to pay for it… I think…" I blinked. That was something to think about. _Where did my family's money go?_ I wondered. I sighed. _I'll have to ask Kyoya later._ I resolved, and walked on with Hunny alongside the current pool back the way we came from, leaving the unconscious bird behind. _They're probably out looking for us by now._ I mused about the friends we had left behind, and that's when I heard Haruhi shout.

Hunny and I only spared each other a glance before running into the forest, following the scream. I ran through the trees, expertly dodging the trunks and jumping over uneven ground like a gazelle, but Hunny was struggling a little, so just before we reached the clearing Haruhi's voice came from, I glanced at him, and he looked at me, and I nodded toward the treetops. There was a vine hanging there, and once he saw it, he looked at me with an impish smile and nodded.

I grabbed him and spun on the spot, using my prior forward momentum to throw him high enough to reach the vine, which he grabbed as soon as he was high enough, swinging like a little Tarzan into the clearing, complete with the Tarzan cry.

"Takashi! Haru-chan move!" he shouted loudly, and I walked slowly to the edge of the clearing. My right leg was doing much better already, already almost half the size it used to be, but it was aching like hell at the moment. Besides, looking out on what Hunny was facing- I knew he could handle it. Takashi and Haruhi were standing on the other side of the clearing in the sun, while I was standing in the shade of the forest, and I noticed with some amusement that Haruhi looked beyond surprised, whereas Takashi looked bored and a little worried. _No wonder he's looking for me. The sweetheart._ I thought, feeling a rush of affection for him. I considered him a brother, even though we were only cousins.

"Haruhi!" I heard Tamaki scream as he and the others came running up behind Takashi and said woman. Tamaki has holding her from behind in a flash, and murmured something in her ear that I couldn't hear, as the twins ran up and saw Hunny, and looked around in confusion. Subconsciously I was swaying gently with the trees, and being perfectly silent, blending in out of habit.

"Hey Hunny?" Kaoru asked the little senior concernedly. Hunny looked up at him and raised his eyebrows curiously.

"Hm?"

"Where's Rose?" Hunny paused to think for a second, and without turning to look at me, reached around and pointed straight at me. I grinned widely at him. I had been teaching him the basics of working with energy, like my had taught me, and he was learning the first lesson very well now. Kaoru turned his head and looked where Hunny pointed, shading his eyes and squinting in my general direction, while I started to silently retreat further into the shadow of the tree next to me with an impish grin on my face as Kaoru starting walking my way. I had an idea, and I was following it on an impulse. Kaoru stopped just before the line of the shadows and looked into the darkness warily. "Rose?" he called out cautiously, and I just saw his eyes widen with surprise before I air-tackled him with a laugh, knocking us both to the ground and causing us to roll a few feet away from the shadow line. I made sure he didn't get any damage from rolling on the soft ground, because on touching him, I felt that his bare skin was very, very soft.

When we stopped rolling, he ended up on top of me, our legs tangled up, and I laughed for the sheer joy of it, and I grinned up at him as he pushed himself up. Upon looking at me, he appeared transfixed by my eyes.

* * *

**A/N:** Ooooo! Cliffie! Of a nice sort, really...


	15. Because You Could

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Heya guys! Here's the newest chapter! Full of humor, sadness and... exasperated cupids? Lol, just yanking your chain. Anyways, there's a lot of "development" in this chapter, and I hope you'll enjoy it!

* * *

I was beyond surprised when she jumped out from behind that tree with a smile and tackled me to the ground, laughing. All I could do was hold onto her though, as we rolled to about the middle of the field, and she laughed the entire way. _She has a beautiful laugh._ I noticed as my eyes were closed and my arms crossed in front of my chest on instinct. _Her laugh sounds like music._

Eventually, we stopped rolling, and I had to take a moment to get my bearings, starting to carefully push myself up, dizzy. Then I saw her eyes, dancing with light and happiness, and it stole my breath away as I flashbacked to that time at Daisuke's place, when she was looking at us with that sad smile on her face. _For such a long time, she couldn't trust anyone. For such a long time, she couldn't let anyone in, no matter how many people she saved…_ I blinked, lost in her eyes, my heart beating: ka-thump, ka-thump- and time seemed to slow down and my surroundings blur as I looked at her curious eyes- her being the only other person I could see clearly. _She's amazing…_

Then I felt a thick arm reach across my chest, starting from my shoulder, and a large hand landing at my hip on the other side of my body. Then I was lifted. Like a baby. I was set down on my feet on the other side of the group from Rose next to Hikaru, and I blinked, completely out of it. _Huh?_ Mori-senpai leaned down to look me in the eye, and he had the sort of look in his eye that clearly said: _'do-that-to-my-cousin-again-and-you'll-have-me-to-deal-with'_. _WHA!?_ I jumped backwards a step in surprise and lifted my hands so that my palms were facing outward in front of my chest, my eyes wide.

"Wha-WHA?!" I exclaimed in surprise, and I could've sworn I saw him roll his eyes as he straightened up again and walked away. That look meant only one thing: _'Idiot.'_ I blinked in surprise, and that's when I heard a feminine sigh, and looked to see Rose stretching, one hand on her wrist as she stretched her arms overhead.

"O-weey…" She reminded me of a cat, the way she quivered as she strained to stretch farther- and since she was only wearing a bikini, she really was something to see, but I got distracted by seeing Hikaru ogling her out of the corner of my eye, and that pissed me off slightly. _You've got Haruhi, Hikaru. Go look at her…_

**SQUAWK!!!** That incredibly loud squawk made me nearly jump out of my skin, as just by listening to it's voice, I could hear it getting closer. Rose's eyes instantly narrowed to slits, and I could see extreme irritation in them as she fisted her hands, and brought her fists and elbows to an equal distance apart in front of her as she leaned forward with a glare, one foot forward in a lunge position as she leaned over it. She scared me at the moment. She definitely had something against that bird.

"That damn bird…" I heard her mutter furiously under her breath. **SQUAWK!!** The bird was nearly onto her now, and she tensed. A second passed by in which nothing happened, then she jumped. It was like watching a professional footballer execute a desperate kick for the ball in mid-air, but then again, it was really more like watching a professional ninja as she turned in mid-air as her right foot swung out with her arms tucked into her chest and her face fixed into a look of utter concentration. It was as if she was in slow-motion as she turned in the air, and her foot connected right under the parrot's outstretched left wing, throwing it out of the air.

She landed on her feet in the exact same position she started from as the parrot shot like a bullet into the forest, falling hard and fast as it had been knocked aside. Rose growled under her breath and straightened up, rubbing the back of her neck as she glared in the direction that she had kicked the bird, grinding her teeth a few times before sighing and relaxing. She smiled apologetically in Kyoya's direction.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Kyoya. That bird had just become a bit too much. Last time it nearly succeeded in taking my top off."

I looked over at Kyoya and nearly bust out laughing. Never had I ever seen Kyoya look so surprised. His face was even in the classic expression- eyes wide, mouth open, pen suspended over his paper, unblinking. It was so un-Kyoya like, and that's what made it funny.

"Eh? So it did, then did it, Miyako?" I froze at the sound of Hunny's voice, validating what Rose said, as she blushed slightly. She nodded hesitantly as she massaged the back of her neck.

"Mm-hm…" _Dang it! Now _I_ want to pummel that bird!_ I thought, and I was only half-aware of my body tensing up and my hands fisting as I watched Rose walk over to stand in front of Kyoya, a serious and somewhat sad look on her face, and that seemed to bring Kyoya out of it. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at her.

"Mr. Kyoya." She said, and I could tell that he was extremely tempted to roll his eyes, but he didn't. When she first woke up in the hospital after he had brought her in, she had been calling him 'Mr. Ootori', and Kyoya didn't like the kind of attention it brought to him, so he insisted that she call him 'Kyoya', like everyone else did. Old habits die hard though, so her habit and his preference mixed to make 'Mr. Kyoya'. When Hikaru and I had teased him about it, he simply said: 'It'll work.' In other words, it wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either. "What happened to my family's money?"

I was snapped back to the present by Rose's question. I blinked. _She's asking about her family's money? That is so unlike her…_ Everyone else seemed to quieten at her question, and Kyoya frowned, puzzled as well. Still, he flipped through his files for a moment before stopping on a certain page and reading. He frowned, and Rose looked anxious as Mori walked up behind her with Hunny on his back. Kyoya sighed, and my curiosity was piqued. _What _did _happen to her family's money?_ Kyoya looked at Rose over the top of his glasses.

"Your family wasn't ever as wealthy as Mori's or Hunny's families, because your father took on about a third of the amount of students that your cousins' families did altogether. Though since it was such a precise and high-ranking method of training, only the highest-ranking black belts of other dojos could transfer into your family's dojo. Those student's mostly were well-off enough to be able to afford it, their family's class hovering right in-between middle class and high class, and in the process making it sink to the lower ranks of middle class. So, your wealth is actually quite substantial, hovering just under your cousins' wealth- however- when you disappeared after your family's deaths, so did your money. I can't say for certain, but…" Kyoya hesitated here, and he was clearly looking apprehensive.

"What happened, Kyoya?" This time, it was Mori who spoke, his large hand resting on Rose's shoulder. I blinked. Mori didn't speak unless it was important. Kyoya sighed, closing his book and pushing his glasses up his nose again before looking at Rose with steady, steely eyes.

"From the little information I have about it, it looks as if the Sendo Syndicate took your family's money. Looking at it from an unknowing eye, they assumed your family had been run to extinction and helped themselves." _There's the fury Hikaru told me about, burning like a livid fire in her eyes, her body tensed for a fight._ I thought. Rose wasn't seeing Kyoya at the moment, but as he was in her line of sight, he could see her full anger flaming in her eyes without restraint, and for the first time I had ever seen him, he looked well and truly afraid. The phrase: 'don't shoot the messenger' popped into my head just then, as Kyoya slowly slunk away from her, her entire body wired up tight, like a pressed coil just waiting for release.

Hunny had slipped off of Mori's shoulders a while ago, and now Mori was currently resting both his hands on her shoulders, watching and waiting for a time when he would need to restrain her, and Hunny was standing in front of her warily, with his arms out in case he needed to grab her legs. Rose was actually shaking as she slowly raised her arms with tight fists, glaring into nowhere- looking as though she was truly struggling with herself. Then Mori lightly placed his open palm on top of one of her fists, and she struck the ground with it.

She was breathing heavily, and her cousins stood there for a moment, looking a little confused. I felt for Rose as I saw her trembling, and I was startled as I heard her heave a shaky sigh. Then she was on her feet and heading out of here, into the woods- and not knowing why, I followed.

* * *

_Why is he following me?!?_ I all but screamed in my mind as I ran through the forest, Kaoru's footsteps pounding after mine. _Why is he following me?!? Leave me alone!_ My heart felt like it was being painfully twisted, and I wanted to cry, but I couldn't cry in front of Kaoru, and I couldn't shake him off my tail. He was just as fast of a runner as I was, if not a midge faster, and that was bad news for me. It meant he was catching up. My eyes were already filling up with tears, and it made it harder to see.

"Rose!" Kaoru shouted from behind me, and I tucked my head down and ran. "Rose! You're going to fall into the current pool!" _Huh? He's not asking me to slow down?_ I blinked the wetness in my eyes away, and there was the current pool, one foot already standing on the edge. So not knowing what else to do, I jumped, somehow managing to touch down on the other edge, but my foot slipped, and I tumbled back-first into the water.

For a moment, I didn't move, and just drifted underwater. _That is completely disorientating._ I thought to myself, and suddenly a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and lifted. I blinked in confusion. _Who? Kaoru?_ I thought, and my face broke the surface, and I let myself be tugged over to where the current was broken by a boulder in the water. _Huh?_ These familiar arms were crossed securely under my breasts, and his soft, soft skin seemed to evoke a strong sense of emotion with me. I wasn't thinking very clearly, and my primal instincts told me what this was, this rugged, raw emotion. It felt as if his energy was seeping through his skin into mine, and it tingled in a very good way.

My man gently rested my back against the boulder as he caged me between his arms, standing in front of me and looking at me with concern, which slowly started to slip away as I looked at him with awe.

"Rose… are you…?" he started to ask, but I don't what possessed me to do it. I don't know why I did it, but I do know that I wanted to. I looked into his gold eyes and kissed him. I kissed him. His lips were soft and surprised, but then gentle and kind. My eyes were closed, and my arms were draped loosely around his neck as he leaned into me, pressing me against the rock.

I was completely lost in him. I could feel his energy stronger than ever before, for this encounter with him was more personal and close. He was gentle and kind, soft and compassionate. He had the personality of a gentle lion, braver and stronger than most, though warm and gentle as he needed to be. Then, as I slowly started to massage the back of his neck and snake my fingers up into his hair, his kissing grew more passionate, and a midge more wild- and I matched him step for step as his hands seemed to instinctively caress my stomach making my light abs quiver and my sides tingle as he lightly traced and then firmly rubbed my stomach in circles alternatively in the water.

I now knew why my heart had burned when I first felt him pass me by in the limo back then. I now knew why I always thought of him. I now knew instinctively what would happen if he was taken away from me. I knew why my heart burned so passionately for him. _He's my flame. My twin flame. My meaning to keep living. My light in the dark…_

Suddenly, I realized that my lungs were screaming for air, and simultaneously we broke apart, gasping for air as we looked deeply into each other's eyes, searching for what we longed to see. His golden orbs were smoldering with a fire he kept deep inside, his lips slightly swollen and red from kissing. I sighed, and placed his head next to mine as I hugged him.

"Never before…" I whispered past his ear. "Never before has anyone saved me like that. Even if you didn't need to, just because you could. Never have I ever felt something like that. I don't know what I'd do without you…" Kaoru's arms tightened behind my back in the water, and he held me closer, while silently, I was crying the first tears I had ever shed out of happiness. _Finally, someone cares…_

* * *

I silently watched my brother from behind some bushes in amazement as Tamaki looked on with a fatherly pride with Mori looking on slightly disapprovingly, and Hunny ecstatic as my twin and Rose were kissing- my eyes as wide as saucers, my jaw dropped open. My brother was making moves I never thought I'd see him make. _My brother's in love…_ I couldn't believe it. Since as long as I could remember, it was just the two of us, and now it seemed as though he didn't need me anymore. It made my heart feel heavier, and sad, but then I felt a small hand placed lightly on my shoulder as I turned to see who it was.

It was Haruhi, smiling understandingly up at me. I sighed when I saw the look in her brown eyes. _Haruhi probably understands everything…_ I thought, with another, mental sigh. I looked back over at my brother and Rose who had just broken apart for air and were now holding each other in a way that friends never would. Tamaki raised his hands for an applause, grinning widely, but Kyoya simply raised a hand and pushed Tamaki's down to his sides, causing the 'Host King' to look at him with that confused puppy look of his, which Kyoya responded to with a warning look before scribbling in his black book once again. I smiled to myself, and sighed slightly once again before looking back at my brother and Rose, after gently taking Haruhi's hand. I smiled a little. _At last, he's figured out that he loves her… at least that makes one of us strong enough to make a move..._


	16. The Xmas Chapter

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **Merry Christmas Everyone!!! This is a special Christmas chapter, though I dunno if it is exactly all that Christmasy though, because in the story it's actually mid-summer or something like that. Well, I did my best, so enjoy!

* * *

I was lying on my bed in Takashi's family's house after returning from the jungle pool, and I couldn't get my mind off that kiss Kaoru and I shared in the current pool. It was like there was a whole new flame lit up inside me that hadn't been there before, and I treasured this feeling. It… it somewhat patched up the hole that had been left by my family's murders, and at that thought, my eyes saddened as if on cue. I got up and snuggled under the covers of my bed, yawning then, and I looked up out through the window over my head at the stars in the night sky, twinkling. I sighed. _Stars are forever, and stars don't know pain… but then stars don't know what I felt today…_ I thought faintly as I drifted of to sleep.

* * *

It was that day back half a year ago, and I was standing in the cemetery in a black dress, Youta standing by my side, his arm wrapped around my shoulders as I cried. In front of me rested my family's graves. The first and largest on the left, my father, and next to him, my mother's, slightly smaller, and then my older brother's and my twin little sisters lying in the same grave. My heart was breaking all over again as I looked at their graves, their faces flashing past my mind's eye.

My father with his kind blue eyes and salt-and-pepper hair, his soft, scrubby beard and gentle laugh. The twinkle in his eye, and the scent of spearmint on his breath and his martial arts kimono that he always wore. His wisdom and love and kindness teaching me how to live.

My mother, soft and gentle, with long, soft dark hair and black eyes. Her soft hands and loving touch, her adoring smile. Her herbal teas in the kitchen and tender embrace, my elder brother always by her side.

My elder brother with his ground-shaking laugh and dyed red and blonde hair with a hint of blue. His gentle brown eyes and his horse stance as he protected me from the bullies at primary school. His silver stud earrings in one ear as I cried on his shoulder, his gentle nature and strong arms as he held me to his chest and walked with me when I was little. His cheerful whistling and humming as he did the chores around the house, four years older than me.

The birth of my little identical twin sisters, both two years and a half younger than me. Identical brown hair and blue eyes, a cheeky look and an innocent one. A burp from one and a hiccup from the other. Long brown hair at thirteen, one liking soul music and the other rock. An interest for the bad boys and the goody-two-shoes for the other. Laughter like bells, sharing the same room.

All of them charred and burnt to death the night only I managed to stay alive because I had been angry at my dad and rebelled by staying awake after the others had gone to sleep. Only I managing to escape through my bedroom window into the oak tree that had the strongest branch extended to my bedroom window. My older brother sleeping so heavily that he suffocated before he woke, my little sisters being too weak to break down walls, and my being barred by fire so I couldn't save them myself. My father dying quietly by my mother's side, both of them going the same way as my brother without resistance.

I couldn't cry at their funeral, as I was so consumed by anger that I staged an attack on the Sendo Syndicate's main building that night and just barely making it out alive. I never returned home. I couldn't return home to face the memories.

Youta vanished from my side without my noticing, and the graves slowly faded from sight as Kaoru strode confidently out of the darkness, his hair as bright as fire, and his golden eyes as reassuring and present as love and as precious as liquid gold. He walked up to me, taking me in his arms, and planting a searing kiss on my lips that caused my eyes to close and past grievances pushed aside for awhile. Nothing but him and the happiness I felt.

A little hand tugging on my skirt as I broke the kiss to see a little version of myself with redder hair tugging at my skirt with a tiny hand and rubbing her eyes with the other as I reached down and picked her up, resting her against my heart, kissing her forehead.

"I can't sleep, mommy. Tarou went to sleep with you and daddy, and I can't sleep without him there." The little girl yawned as I placed her on my lap as I sat on the bed and I held her gently with a loving smile on my face as I cuddled her.

"Then sleep with us tonight, Ayaka. Your brother is sleeping in between us as well." I said as I laid her on the bed next to me as I lay down, watching as she crawled over to her sleeping brother and snuggled under first Tarou's arm, and then Kaoru's as I faced all three of them and looked at my son. He had a darker version of the Hitachiin hair, and even without seeing Tarou's eyes, I knew they were brown like mine as I smiled and closed my eyes, the reflection of the Christmas tree lights shining in the darkened window. It was well past midnight on Christmas Eve, and just before I drifted off to sleep, I whispered: "Merry Christmas my loves." –and Kaoru's hand reached over and rested on my shoulder just as I was falling asleep.

"Merry Christmas…"

* * *

Kaoru woke up on the day they were going to the beach, and stretched like a cat, yawning pleasantly. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, looking back on the dream he had of Rose and their possible future children.

"What a wonderful dream…" He murmured before rolling out of bed.


	17. Don't Leave Me

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N: **Hey guys! Sorry for the 'pocket-sized ninja'* update. There's a lot of angst, but I hope you'll like it. REVIEW!!!

This chapter is dedicated to Ichibanhoushii for a few _excellent_ reviews!!!

(*The actor who voiced Takashi/Mori in the english dubbed version of the anime called Hunny his 'pocket-sized ninja' at a comic-con.)

* * *

To watch the waves rolling onto the beach from the ocean was a truly beautiful sight from where I sat on top of the cliff at the beach that Tamaki had dragged us off to this time. It was only yesterday that I had kissed Kaoru at the Jungle Pool, and I was sitting up here alone in my black leather biker's jacket, enjoying the cool breeze. The sun was setting beautifully over the ocean in an amazing array of pink, peach, yellow and red colors, slightly taking my breath away as I watched.

Kaoru and the others were hosting down on the beach, entertaining the young women that Kyoya had brought over from Ouran in order to make more money, and I sighed. Watching the two Hitachiin brothers putting on their act didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, because they were simply acting like brothers today when they sometimes went a little overboard with it. It was actually the girls that had me down. Wearing bikinis and practically throwing themselves at the two men I had come to admire, and for one, actually begin to love. I sighed and shook my head as I rested my elbow on my bent knee, the other leg stretched out straight in front of me, leaning back with my other hand supporting me. _Being a teenager can be kind of tricky, huh? Heh… _I smiled, my eyes sad, laughing inwardly at myself. _I'm both young and old…_

"Miyako?" A timid, girlish voice asked from behind me, and I turned around to see two of the host's guests standing there in their bikinis, twisting their hands together as if they were anxious, smiling at me awkwardly. I looked them over once or twice, reading their energy, and deciding that their personalities weren't too… annoying- I smiled at them, causing their faces to light up with relief as they walked over to where I sat, kneeling next to me. I turned my eyes back to the sunset once more, and breathed contentedly. "Beautiful sunset, isn't it?" The girl who had spoken before, now sitting on my right said, and I nodded, making a sound of agreement.

"You're Mori-Senpai's cousin, right?" The girl on my left suddenly gushed, and I looked at her silently, making her blush. I blinked. _She couldn't be…?_ I nodded all the same, waiting for her reaction, but the girl on my right spoke again.

"You are so admirable!" she gushed, and I blinked in surprise as she continued. "You have such a strong personality, and I heard that you are trained in a deadly martial art-" I blinked, interrupting.

"You find that admirable?" I asked, dumbfounded. _Killing people isn't a nice experience…_ I thought as she nodded excitedly, opening her mouth to babble some more, but I cut her off. "Don't." I said bluntly, and she blinked, confused, her head tilting to the side curiously, so I elaborated. "Being a murderer isn't admirable." I said bluntly, and she closed her mouth, her eyes cautious and now holding a hint of fear. I sighed. _That is what I am…_

"Oho, There are girls up here!" I suddenly heard an unfamiliar masculine voice that sounded a little doped come up behind me, and I turned to look, then stood. Just barely touching the two men's energy, I could tell the two of them were drunk, and the beer can that the second man tossed aside proved that fact. "Lucky! Hey girls, let's play together." He drawled, and the corners of my mouth lifted in disgust. He didn't have a can, but he reeked of alcohol, and the other two girls were standing to cower behind me, and that was when I realized that I had instinctively taken a defensive stance. _Of course I'd look like someone to protect them._ I thought, rolling my eyes slightly. People naturally gravitated towards people with power or strength. It was a primary instinct that most people never noticed. I glared at the man in front, who chuckled drunkenly. "Oho, a feisty one, eh? Looks like fun, doesn't she?" He said over his shoulder to the second man who came up behind him, nodding and leering, looking me over. _Pervert._ I looked at them in disgust and snarled slightly.

"Back off and you both won't have to pay a very expensive visit to the hospital." I threatened, and they laughed, advancing. I sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you." I said, and stepped forward, kicking the first man forcefully in the groin and making him drop like a sack of rocks, then stepping on that foot, I spun around and would've hit the second man in the temple with my heel, but he ducked, and placing my foot back behind me, I already had my arms up in defensive. _So this guy isn't as drunk as the other one…_ I thought to myself. -_Still has a fairly speedy reflexes…_ I noted as he lunged at me, pushing at my forearms, and I jumped, his push sending me back a bit, and making me grin because of the flying sensation. _Fun…_ I loved that one part of fighting in particular, when I was pushed, because I got to fly.

The second man looked somewhat unnerved by my lusting grin, and when I charged at him again, he covered his face reflexively with his arms, and I paused momentarily, looking at his neck as he went down on one knee, trying to protecting himself. However, I was looking for that one pressure point on his neck, and feeling his friend advance on me from behind thanks to my having tracked him with my instincts, I jabbed the second man in the side of the neck with my finger tips, and he promptly had a fit and fell over. I stood still, wanting to see what the first man would do, and wanting to have a bit of fun- but then I heard the girls scream, and I spun around with a murderous glare.

He had apparently recovered from the simple groin kick I gave him, and he was now holding the first girl by the throat with his arm, and she was looking at me desperately while trying to keep the drunkard away from her windpipes. Recognizing the situation easily and noticing the man's drunken glare, the familiar fire called bloodlust lit within my chest once again, and I could feel my eyes starting to blaze with the all-too-familiar anger once again, my instincts starting to take control again as I didn't even bother to hide my now feral snarl of fury. _I thought I gave this up?_ I could hear myself thinking as that inner voice was pushed to the back of my mind. I was officially on autopilot now, and I removed the girl easily from the man's chokehold, and I was now pinning him to the ground, slowly squeezing his windpipes shut as I glared viciously into the man's frightened eyes, his hands doing nothing against mine, as his strength slowly faded. I leaned down so that my mouth was next to his ear, and I snarled quietly.

"**Never** get on an assassin's bad side." I whispered gutturally, and I felt his pulse quicken in fear. I didn't even notice the shadow.

"Enough." A familiar voice I didn't want to recognize said firmly above me, and my hands were wrenched from the man's throat and pinned to my sides as the man gasped for air, clutching his throat, and I was lifted clear off the ground as I struggled. His hold didn't fail as he tightened his grip on me and carried me down to the ocean, away from prying eyes. He waded knee-deep into the water so that my toes touched the surface and dropped me. I gasped as I fell, and hitting the water with a splash, all the water got in my nose, and I surfaced instantly to try and get it out. Only after a little water splurted out of my nose did I look up to see who carried me here.

Takashi. Hunny was standing nest to him, and they were both looking at me sadly, Hunny's hand resting on Takashi's leg. They weren't angry, and they weren't shouting- they were both just looking at me with those sad eyes, not saying a word, and I couldn't look at them. I felt so ashamed. I had let my anger control my actions once again, and I felt so guilty I nearly submerged myself again to let myself drown- but then I saw Kaoru, and couldn't look away.

His eyes. His eyes tortured me with that look of disbelieving shock, yet I couldn't look away. _Kaoru… Kaoru…_ I thought as I watched Hikaru walk up behind him and place a hand on his shoulder as he said something to him that couldn't hear, and Kaoru nodded to him before Hikaru turned to glare at me before walking away. I watched as Kaoru's look turned to one of sadness as he hung his head, and I silently reached a pleading hand out to him as he turned and walked away. _Kaoru…_ I lowered my hand back into the water, and watched Kaoru's back until he disappeared from sight. _It's over._ The lone thought struck my shell of a heart, and I blinked as it shattered. I gasped shakily as my eyes watered, and I looked down as wave after gentle wave washed over me, my tears mingling with the salt of the ocean. I wanted to think: '_What have I done?'_ –but I knew what I did. I had lost the only man I had felt myself opening up to other than my cousins, and for the first time since my family's murders, I curled up into a little ball and cried like a child.

* * *

She hasn't left her room for days. Not even once has she left to get something to eat, and every time I went in there, I saw that she was slowly wasting away. When ever I would turn her face to look at me, I would see those dead eyes staring back at me, and she wouldn't even swallow when I spoon-fed her soup, having to tilt her face up so it slowly slid down her throat. She had lost her enthusiasm for everything since that day at the beach three days ago, and not even Hunny could make her smile. Hunny would come out of her room shaking his head sadly and wiping tears out of his eyes because she had gotten too depressing for him to bear.

I knew why too. She had shown the host club her dark side that day at the beach, protecting those girls from those two drunk young men. When I broke her out of her rage back then by dropping her into the ocean, I could see the guilt in her eyes. I could see the young woman crying for her family in her eyes, and I could see her desperation for that kind of love once more. So when Kaoru turned away from her- she had died. Given up on everything, even revenge.

My eyes darkened as I pushed off the wall outside her room and slowly walked out of the house and climbed into the limo outside. I needed to tell a certain man what he had done to a certain woman I cared about, and I needed to do it soon, so now was the best time to do so. The driver rolled down the privacy window and asked where to go. I said two words:

"Hitachiin Mansion."


	18. Fight For This Love

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create. The song is 'Fight For This Love' by Cheryl Cole.

**A/N:** Hey guys, sorry about the wait. I had to do three revisions of the second part of this chapter before I was satisfied with it, because I desperately wanted to put that song in there. I went from creating two new ninja characters, to Hunny, and finally I settled on Satoshi for being the best for the scene I needed to write, even if I don't know Takashi's little brother very well.

**Dedications:** Ichibanhoushii, for outstanding reviews! KraDEJDarK, for one of the most helpful reviews I've ever had, and never forgetting ILuvHikaruAndKarou, who has been with me from the begining! I owe you one! And a special thanks for all of you, because thanks to you, this story has the most reviews I have ever had! 24 in total, and I feel so loved! Thank you! You inspire me to be the best writer I can be!

* * *

Rose nearly killed that guy, apparently, and I now felt so confused about my feelings. When she kissed me in the current pool at the Jungle Pools, I had thought that she was an angel and had sent me to heaven with that first kiss that felt so right- but now… after knowing what she did- was it really ok to have feelings for a murderer?

I was sitting in front of the TV in the central living room, watching but not seeing the fashion channel on the screen as I was so engrossed in the thoughts of my emotions. Hikaru was sitting upstairs in our room at the moment, playing one of our console games on the bed. I replayed the last time I had seen Rose on the beach over and over in my head, trying to figure out what to do. She hadn't come to school for three days, and I was starting to worry because of the unwavering stares that Mori had taken to sending my way lately. He made me feel like I had done something wrong. The thing was, I don't know what I did. There was just something in my gut telling me it was bad.

I sighed, and I felt a large hand land on my shoulder that caused me to stiffen with surprise, and I slowly turned around. It was Mori, and I sighed with relief. For a moment I thought someone had broken into our house. Mori removed his hand and sat down next to me, and I turned to look at him where he was slumping over to look into my eyes. The guy was just that tall, and I was about to say something light-hearted when I saw the look in his eyes. I blinked, kind of scared by the serious, glaring and worried look he managed to make into just one look, and my breath caught in my throat as I leaned away from him. _Man, that look is __**intense**__._ I swallowed.

"Um. Mori?" I asked, and he didn't react. I felt like I was having my eyes burned out with the look he was giving me. "Um… you're going to have to say something, because I dunno what that look-"

"Do you know what you've done to my cousin?" I shivered impulsively. When Mori spoke, it was like some mad scientist had given a bear a voice, and right now that voice was thinly layered with ice. When Mori was mad, it was no joke. I swallowed, and shook my head, unable to say anything, because I was really afraid of him right now. Mori's eyes softened sadly, and he leaned away from me, letting me straighten up again. He looked at the carpet on the floor and then picked up the remote to turn the TV off, and turned to look at me again. This time he folded his leg onto the couch and leaned his side against the back, so I knew that he was going to be there for awhile.

I'd often heard that a person's eyes are the windows to their soul, and I realized how true that was with Mori. He never had to speak, because usually his eyes said it all, and the sad look he fixed me with now would make a baby cry. In the back of my head, I wondered if a fortune teller looking into a crystal ball would see what I could see looking into Mori's eyes. Rose wasn't doing alright. She wasn't doing alright at all. _This is serious._ I thought, and I frowned in concern.

"Rose isn't doing too well, is she?" I said, and Mori sighed slightly, shaking his head. I felt my heart freeze for a second and then start again. _Something very bad is going on here._ I thought. "What's wrong with her?" I asked, and Mori sighed more heavily this time. He looked at me and his eyes sharpened, making me feel as if I was pinned to the wall behind me. It took me a little while to figure out what he meant, and then I gasped. _I can't believe it!_ "M-me?" I asked shakily, and Mori nodded sadly. I went limp against the back of the couch in disbelief, and tried to figure it out. _What have I done?_ I thought, my heart racing. _Rose is doing badly, and it's my fault that she is that way… but what did I do?_ I thought, and I looked back up at Mori, shaking slightly. He blinked. "What did I do?" I asked faintly, and he frowned at me slightly as if he was saying I was an idiot. I frowned slightly in confusion. Mori rolled his eyes.

"The last time you saw her, what did you see?" His voice rumbled like thunder deep in his chest as he looked at the blank TV screen. I looked at him in confusion.

"What did I-" Mori looked at me, and cut me off. _What did I see?_ I thought back to the last time I had seen her at the beach, sitting in the water. I looked at my lap, playing with my hands as I thought aloud. "The last time I saw her was after she nearly killed that guy." I said, and Mori growled, causing me to look up at him in surprise. He was glaring at me slightly, and his mouth was shut. _How can a man make such a sound!?_ I thought in confusion, but then I realized something more important. _I'm being narrow-minded._ "So… she wasn't trying to kill him…" I wondered aloud, and then I remembered when Rose saved my brother ad I. She had killed that man then- and that man was going to kill us or something. She had saved us from that mob on the day we came home, and Hikaru told me that she had been killing them. Then I remembered Daisuke's story of how Rose had saved him. I sucked in a breath in realization. "She doesn't kill because she wants to." I realized, staring blankly at the dark TV screen as I thought. "Sure she might have a grudge, but she kills only when others are danger. She protects people…" _So…so she's not a murderer… she's a hero… I should've known that…_ Mori nodded when he saw my stunned expression.

"It's a part of her training." He said, and I looked at him. He looked at me wisely. "'For everything there is a reason, a time for every purpose under heaven.' That is one of the codes she grew up to live by. Everything has a reason, a time, and a purpose. She can't kill in cold blood like some others do." I blinked at Mori's wisdom. _The Sendo Syndicate._

"So… she was just listening to her heart then…" Mori nodded.

"Or her memories." I blinked. _Her memories…_ I didn't really know what that meant. "Miyako isn't eating." He said abruptly, and I twitched, blinking. I looked at him incredulously.

"What?" Mori looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"She hasn't eaten for three days. She doesn't swallow what I feed her. She's dead inside." My mouth was wide open now, and my eyes were wide with horror. I couldn't believe it.

"Why?" I whispered, and Mori's eyes saddened.

"You broke her heart."

* * *

I was hiding in the shadows watching my older brother's facial expressions before he went off with a dark expression. I had overheard Hunny telling my mum the story about why Miyako was like this, and I had snuck into her room a few times to see her for myself. Takashi hadn't been letting me in because he didn't want the way she was looking to scar me or something, and that really was noble of him, but I wanted to help. Even if she really was looking awful.

I had my laptop with me now, and I had a plan as I snuck into Miyako's room after Takashi left. Yesterday, while walking home from school, I had heard a song blasting from a girl's ipod as she walked by, dancing a bit. The sound of it had caught my attention, and had stopped her politely and asked her what she was listening to. In my room, I had looked the song up on youtube, and listened to it a few times. The lyrics and the tune of the song fit quite well together, and I felt that this song might actually be of some help to Miyako, having heard her story.

I set my laptop down on her bedside table and sat on the stool next to her bed as I opened my internet to the youtube page I had loaded and ready to play. I looked at Miyako's dead eyes looking through me, and I hoped that soon, there would be some life in them. I hit play.

"**Too much of anything can make you sick **

**Even the good can be a curse **

**Makes it hard to know which road to go down **

**Knowing too much can get you hurt…"** Nothing happened until the fourth verse, as I thought it might.

"**Anything that's worth having **

**Is sure enough worth fighting for **

**Quitting's out of the question **

**When it gets tough gotta fight some more **

**We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love **

**We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love **

**We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love **

**If it's worth having it's worth fighting for"** Miyako's foot started to tap slowly, and looking at her face, I saw she was starting to blink, like she was waking up. I grinned. _It's working!!!_ I thought gleefully and leaned against the wall. The song was by Cheryl Cole, called 'Fight for This Love'. It was a love song about not giving up when love has you down, as the lyrics quite pointedly said, and I was glad that it was working.

I had found the song to fit Miyako's broken heart, and if it was working the way I hoped it would, it was inspiring her not to give up. Watching her eyes come back to life was extremely satisfying for me, knowing that in some small way I had helped her. Her eyes weren't glassy or dead anymore, just unfocused as she listened to the song until the end. Then she licked her lips and looked fragilely up at me with a soft, pleading look. My heart instantly went out to her, and I just wanted to hug her.

"Can you play it again, please?" She asked, and I smiled a small smile down at her and pressed the play button, starting the song again before turning the screen to her so she'd get better sound. I stood up and leaned closer to her.

"I'll go get you something to eat, ok?" I asked her, and she nodded mutely. Walking to the door, I pushed it open, and there was Takashi and one of the Hitachiin brothers standing right outside. I instantly felt two inches tall. _Caught._ I thought, and I slouched. Takashi was looking at me with a mixture of pride and disappointment, and the twin was looking at me with heart-breaking regret. That just made me want to slink off somewhere and hide. I bowed my head. "She-she's doing better…" I stuttered, drawing a circle on the floor with my toes. _Even the twin is taller than me…_ I then felt my brother's hand on my head, and I looked up to see him smile. _Forgiven._ I smiled. "I'm just going to get her some food, ok?" Takashi nodded and backed away from the door, pulling me along with him and looking at the twin and pointing inside.

The twin looked at him hopelessly, and Takashi's gaze hardened so that the red-head bowed his head and shuffled inside. Takashi closed the door behind him, and with a hand on my back, he led me off to the kitchen.

* * *

I stood just inside the room and looked at her unmoving form on the bed, feeling overwhelmed by guilt and shame. Mori had gotten me to think about how Rose must've been feeling on the beach, and how my walking away from her must've affected her while we were on our way to see her. I could tell she was alive by the rise and fall of her ribcage in time with her breathing, but she was skinny and so still, one might've taken her for dead. Until the song that was playing on the laptop next to her ended, and she raised her arm to click the play button and then it flopped limply to her side again. I gulped and moved forward. I was actually shaking with nerves.

"Rose?" _Thank god I didn't stutter…_ I asked quietly and stood at the foot of her bed. She didn't move apart from moving her head down to look at me with a look of heartbreaking sadness in her eyes, and I felt something in me break. I already felt sad and guilty with incredibly heavy shoulders, and when she looked at me like that, I saw quite plainly how she must have felt when I walked away. The thing was, I didn't know what to do, and seeing that look, I just cried. I just staggered around the bed to her side, fell to my knees and put my head down next to hers and cried.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" I just said those two words over and over again until even I couldn't make out what I was saying. I don't know how long I stayed like that, but I gradually became aware of her feather-light hand being cupped around the back of my neck just where my hair began. I blinked when I was done from where my head was lying face-down on the mattress, and moved my head slightly so that the top of my head bumped gently into something soft and hard and separate. I frowned. _What?_ I thought about it, and when I realized, my eyes shot wide, and it took all that I had to not just yank my head out of there. _T-tits!_ Little red warning lights went off in my head, but I tried my hardest to ignore the impulsive reaction they were telling me to do. _The top of my head is in her cleavage! Ok, calm down…calm down…_ I thought. _Now gently… look up…._

I raised my head ever so slightly, and I looked to see exactly what kind of a situation I was in. Her hand was limp, and it gently slipped off the back of my neck to rest at the side as I looked at her face. She was asleep, and she was sleeping curled around me. I blinked. _She fell asleep holding me…does this mean… I've been forgiven?_ I straightened up, and lightly placed Rose's hand on the mattress, and her eyes slowly opened. _Seems like she was only half asleep…_ I thought as she looked at me with a look of acceptance in her eyes before she rolled over and looked at the door.

**Knock, knock.** The door opened, and in came Satoshi carrying a tray full of food. I blinked and looked back at Rose. _Is she…?_ I thought, and Rose turned her head to look at me and winked. I blinked in surprise. _She is. Wow. I have a psychic girlfriend…_ I thought, then blushed a little. _Girlfriend…_ I thought. I thought the day would never come.


	19. Dance For Their Memory

**Disclaimer-** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Heya guys, sorry it's been awhile. THe second half of this chapter is a little bit abstract I guess because I wanted to make it longer. Originally it was only the first half (up until the *** line). Well, enjoy, and remember to **REVIEW** please!

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After Kaoru opened his heart to Rose and earned her forgiveness, they stayed together for as long as they could during the day, and the seasons slowly turned from summer to fall and gradually to winter. The 'brotherly love' idea for the host club was only used as necessity now, or when the business was slow, as Rose and Kaoru could hardly take their eyes off each other during host hours now. Then one day, in the first snow, she didn't turn up. Kaoru was worried enough to pace around the room, like Tamaki usually did, and Hikaru could only lean against the windows and watch his brother worriedly.

_Kaoru's POV_

"Hey Tono, what're you looking at?" I head Hikaru say as I walked back towards the windows from the doors. I turned to look at Hikaru to follow his gaze to where he was looking at Tamaki. Tamaki was looking out of the windows into the rose gardens in awe, and it piqued my curiosity as he pointed wordlessly out the window. _Huh? Tono, speechless?_ I wondered as we all wandered over to gather around Tamaki to look at what he was seeing, and when I stepped up next to Tono and followed his gaze, I gasped, as every one else just about did as well.

_She's beautiful…_ Rose was dancing in the snow, amongst the thorny rose bushes, looking exquisitely beautiful as she danced even more gracefully than a ballerina. Watching her move through the gently falling snow, it looked as though she was dancing ballet, waltz and something of her own creativity. It took my breath away, and watching her dance gave me a sense of surrealism, a sense of beauty that only belonged in dreams, and watching her trace patterns through the snow with her feet put me in a trance as I slowly and silently opened the window to lean out.

"She's dancing for her family…" If the room wasn't so silent in admiration of Rose's trance-like dance, I wouldn't have heard Hunny's sad whisper from where he was sitting atop Mori's shoulders. I looked up at him to see the sad, respectful look he was wearing as he watched Rose dance in the snow. I turned back to watch Rose move so beautifully. _She's dancing for her family, huh… For her family's memory?_ I thought, and I blinked, slowly moving away from the window as I silently left the room. I had to be closer to her, to really see what she was doing, and she stayed in my thoughts as I walked down the hall to the courtyard rose garden where she was. As I pushed open the doors to the outside, a chill wind swept over me, making me shiver, and it was only then that I realized that I had left my blazer upstairs. Still, I couldn't turn back now as I pushed through the doors and stood outside and watched her dance from a much closer perspective.

She knew I was there. With one swirl, she hadn't even looked to see where I was- but with one spin on her toes and a swirl of her white skirt, she was standing before me, looking with her soulful eyes up into my own. It was a moment frozen in time, my breath caught in my throat in awe. It seemed that she slowly extended her hand out to me with her sad smile that seemed to lighten in her eyes at the sight of me.

"Dance with me." I blinked, and stepped out into the snow, giving her my hand. I hadn't noticed it before, but now that her hand was in mine, I could hear a faint music, that as we slowly walked into the center of the courtyard- grew gradually louder as we stood facing each other in the center of the rose garden. A slow, peaceful, ethereal melody that seemed to come from everywhere and no where at the same time, and as I held her in my arms in the traditional waltz frame, we looked deeply into each other's eyes, and we simultaneously took a deep breath at the same time and sighed. At that moment- I don't know how else to explain it- we seemed to fall into a trance were our hearts were beating in time with each other, and we just… synced with each other. So we moved.

Rose had taken us up on our offer of being a model for us, and she had taken the day off yesterday from school to model for our mother, and I just now realized that she must've had today off as well, for the dress that she was wearing was unmistakably one of my mother's designs. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant yet casual way, and she was wearing some light makeup that was expertly applied, making her natural beauty even more stunning. She just simply made my heart race and took my breath away.

I gradually came back to myself, holding her securely to my chest, my arms wrapped tightly around her waist as her arms slipped under mine to do the same as she rested her head against my chest. I felt so completely at peace, and I slowly became aware of a simple fact that didn't trouble me in the least. We were standing in the snow, and yet, standing there holding Rose in my arms- I wasn't cold at all.

Clapping. People were clapping, and I blinked and looked around. I hadn't noticed it before, but there was a slight crowd of students and a few teachers scattered loosely around us under the roofed walkways enclosing the rose garden courtyard, and they were applauding lightly. I blinked as Rose pushed away from me, looking slightly confused as she heard it too. She looked up at me with the delightful expression of an angel just waking from sleep, smiling gently up at me. I smiled down at her.

"They love you." I whispered into her ear, and she smiled, snuggling into my chest as I folded my arms around her again, as I rested my chin on her head.

"They love you too. So do I." She whispered, and I smiled, closing my eyes.

An image flashed in front of my eyes of a brother with multi-colored hair and pierced ears who looked like he could be Rose's older brother, smiling at me warmly and stepping aside to show me an image of Rose and I standing together, our arms full with two identical twin boys, and a third little girl sleeping in Rose's arms, all three of them the same age, all three of them looking like the two of us. _Triplets._ I opened my eyes. _Hm… _I thought. _It's kind of early for that kind of a premonition, isn't it? _Still. I loved Rose now, more than had ever known that I could. I would never let her go again, as long as she was happy being with me.

_A love like this only comes by once in a lifetime after all…_

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Satochi was a very cool kid. Almost like a European, and everyone liked him. Being around him, you just couldn't help but smile. He was the complete opposite of his older brother, Takashi, but he loved everything about him. If I didn't know any better, he could join the Takashi fan club. He was just too cute and loveable in my opinion. Nothing like Hunny at all- in a completely different way. Just picture Takashi being only about his shoulder height, very outgoing and very talkative in comparison, and you'll see what I mean. Too much too just ignore. Ever since he had brought me out of my depression over Kaoru, it had become customary for me to glomp him on sight, if he was close enough. He became like a little brother to me, and sometimes we made the neighbors laugh when I had a sudden 'let's-glomp-Satochi-and-love-him-to-bits' fit and chased him around the yard. He didn't mind it too much, but playing like that was fun, and I always caught him in the end, with my impressive ninja skills once or twice.

The poor boy nearly wet himself once when I used one of my sneakier techniques. Looking back on it, I could sympathize with him at times, but you know- from my position it was just too dang funny! I mean- yeah, it's kinda cruel, but- it's like watching a cat doing handstands. It doesn't usually happen! Poor boy…

I was chasing him around the yard once, and he looked over his shoulder to see I wasn't behind him, and came to a stop, wondering where I was, and then slowly turned his head back the way he had been running. You know, if I had seen myself hanging upside-down from a tree branch barely two inches in front of my nose, I probably would've freaked out too. The funny thing was that I was grinning like a cheshire cat, my hair looking like flossed licorice as it stood on end from gravity, and he actually recoiled and yelped like a kicked puppy when I said 'boo'. I nearly got a concussion from letting go of the branch and falling to the not-so-far-away ground in surprised laughter. Luckily I had managed to tuck my head in before impact, so that I mainly landed on my shoulders and I little on the pressure point on my neck. I was just temporarily paralyzed for a little bit. No biggie.

Then it snowed. I was walking over to the school to have lunch with Kaoru when my modeling session with his mum was on lunch break. It really started collecting on the ground by the time I reached the rose garden at the school, and I heard a loud childish laugh from the joined-on Ouran elementary school, echoing into the courtyard. My eyes watered at the sound. I blinked my eyes, and I could've sworn that I saw my two little twin sisters dashing by, just out of sight, laughing while playing in the snow. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my exhale misting in the air. I could see my brother leaning against the side of the building with a loving smile with his arms and ankles crossed, watching our little siblings play in the snow lovingly, his breath misting in front of his face. He smiled at me, and I opened my eyes. It was nearly a year now since their deaths, and all I felt was a mind-boggling numb despair. Like the child crying with the burden of pain in my heart had been frozen over and hidden in a dark corner of my heart. The pain was fresh, but cold, old.

Before I knew it, I was dancing in the snow, and Kaoru had joined me, his white shirt and lack of tie seeming to compliment my moving dress as we spun and danced through the snow together, my heart warming up to him once more. I didn't feel cold at all. Then, we were cuddling in a loveseat in front of a fire pit in the host club. It was just, Kaoru, me, and the rest of the host club scattered loosely around the room.

I looked at his contented face that looked so much like his brother's and sighed slightly, leaning slightly into his chest. _Two little twin sisters, having fun in the snow…_ I felt Kaoru holding me just a little tighter as I rested my head on his shoulder, and I relished in the solidness of him as I resolved myself for the memories that were going to come floating to the surface of my mind.

"I had two little twin sisters once." I said, and the room seemed to freeze and look towards me as everyone in the room held their breath. "Their names were Ami and Aya." My throat tightened up just I expected it to, and Kaoru rubbed my shoulder blade as I blinked some water out of my eyes. "They had dark hair just like mine, but they had mother's face and father's eyes. They loved to play in the snow, no matter how old they were, and my older brother Hiroshi and I would watch over them while they played. We'd join them at times too, and Hiroshi would act like a sled for those two at times, sliding down some small hill on his back with those two on his belly." I smiled weakly at the memory, and the rest of the host club slowly gathered around loveseat, and I rested my head on the back of it and looked up into Takashi's eyes. "Do you remember Hiroshi?" I asked him, and he nodded slowly, causing the weak smile I wore to shine timidly in my eyes. "He came to that one reunion where I met you, Takashi. Satochi would've been tiny at the time, though I never met him then." I sighed and looked over at Kaoru, and saw Hikaru standing next to him. "They were just as identical as you two, although they had different smiles." The boy's eyes widened in surprise, and Kaoru pulled me into his lap, putting his arms around me properly. I leaned my head lightly against his. "They were barely fourteen when they died. Hiroshi was eighteen." I whispered and leaned my head against the side of Kaoru's, my throat tightening and tears leaking out of my eyes as I closed them. I could feel the old grief starting to melt in my heart, fresh as ever. "I miss them." I choked out and sniffed. There was no way I could get away from it now. I was really crying, and I held onto Kaoru as we were lifted to our feet and I felt several bodies coming in around us in a many-armed hug, and I didn't even need to support myself anymore.

This was- in a way- my second family.


	20. To Take A Life

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** PERSONAL RECORD!!!! 20 chapters on ! That's a first! Yay! I'm so happy! Now I just hope that I'll get a lot of reviews...

This chapter was actually quite a tough one to write, even though it's short, because it was my original inspiration to write this story, and I wanted to stay true to my original idea without going off on a random tangent. I almost did too, and I took it out but saved it in a differnt document as an extra just in case you guys wanted to read it.

Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, and please REVIEW!Enjoy!

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It was a new day, and I had my ipod plugged in as I half-danced my way through the school halls to the Host club. When I heard a good song, I just couldn't keep myself from moving to it in some way. I had already changed out of that yellow monstrosity they called a school uniform in the bathroom and was wearing some black jeans and a black tee that had a gold tiger's face printed over my chest, with my ipod stuck into my hip pocket as I swiveled my hips and wiggled my shoulders to a particularly groovy part of MJ's 'Smooth Criminal', watching my feet, bumping lightly up and down in time with the music.

I didn't even notice Kaoru standing there until I nearly bumped into him, causing me to look up at him with a smile and peck him on the cheek. He laughed lightly and held me in his arms, and we stood there for a minute, cuddling. He smelled heavenly. I don't know how else to describe it. I could smell a bit of a gentle, manly perfume on his collar bones that mixed with his natural scent and made him smell vaguely woodsy and fruity. I don't know why, but I was very attracted to men who smelled like tropical fruits. If you asked me why, I wouldn't be able to answer. Kaoru's chest rumbled, and I leaned away slightly to look at him while he spoke.

"How's school been today?" he asked, and we walked into the room together, smiling. I gave a little shrug, lightly bumping his arm which was wrapped around my shoulders. It was so-so. A normal day, and I was about to tell him that, but then I noticed the red-head guy sitting on a couch across from the rest of the host club. I blinked in surprise as I stopped just inside the room.

He was sitting slumped dejectedly over on one of the couches in the middle of the room while the Hosts were gathered around a random chalkboard and talking excitedly off to the side of the room. I blinked. _There's something about him…_ I thought as I couldn't take my eyes away from the mysterious new kid. Kaoru patted my shoulder and smiled at me when I turned around to look at him- pecking me on the cheek before joining the other hosts by the chalkboard, leaving me to look at this new kid. He was truly fascinating to look at. His hair was scarlet and he wore his jacket and button-up shirt open, revealing a sunshine yellow tee underneath that contrasted sharply with his troubled, dark mood. I had a feeling though, that his problems were just normal teenage problems blown way out of proportion- knowing this school and the sort of people who attended it.

I was walking towards him before I realized that my legs were moving, and I found out that his eyes were a browny-green when he looked up at me, and I smiled at him. He looked so nervous. Just like a little deer.

"Is anyone sitting here?" He looked surprised when I indicated the place next to him, and he scooted over to the side nearly automatically as he shook his head.

"N-no." he stuttered, and I couldn't look away from him. Something was drawing me in. "Feel free." I smiled and sat down next to him, angling myself in his direction so that I could look at him, and he seemed wary of me. _Is he like this with everyone?_

"So what are you here for?" I asked him, and he jumped, looking at me. I smiled. _He's cute in his own way…_ He licked his lips.

"I-" he broke off, sighed, and started again. "I want to be like Mori." He stated, and I raised an eyebrow. _He wants to be like Takashi? Sounds like an inferiority issue or something…looking up to my cousin as an idol… hmm…_ He glanced at me and continued. "Mori has tons of friends and he doesn't even say anything. I- I scare everyone away. All because of these mean looks I was born with." He gestured to his face and I couldn't help but frown sympathetically at him. He really did have a normal teenager's problem blown way out of proportion.

"I doubt that you had a mean look as a baby." He looked at me curiously as I spoke. "I suppose that you just had a stomach ache or something most of the time then, so you wore the resulting facial expression most of the time." I said, looking at his relaxed face. "You don't look 'mean' now, so it's not like you've got one emotion frozen on your face." I said blandly, and he looked at me, blinking. We just looked at each other for a moment, neither of us knowing quite what to say. I then sighed a little. "I think it's probably your self-confidence that needs a boost, not that your looks need changing." I smiled at him and offered him my hand for a shake and he grasped it loosely. I looked at him slightly exasperatedly and he blinked at me nervously. "You call that a handshake?" I asked him, and he gave me a tiny shrug. I looked at him before I put my other hand over his. "I used to have a slack handshake too. My friend wouldn't let me live it down until I had a proper hand-shaking grip. She did this." I said, and then without warning I started to shake the kid's arm up and down and side to side, and he looked at me in surprise, and I only said two words: "Control it."

He blinked at me and licked his lips before nodding as I shook his arm rather violently, and gradually I felt myself being unable to shake his arm too much, and I could only move his arm up and down. I nodded. "Good. Now keep my hand from escaping." I said tugged on my hand sharply. It slid out of his hand easily and I took his hand again without blinking. I gave him a look telling him to try harder, and tried again. He held onto my fingers, but my palm escaped. I smiled and slipped my hand back into his. I shook his arm up and down and then pulled away, but my hand remained firmly in his grip. I grinned, and he smiled at me a little in return. This little lesson was a great little confidence booster, because to have a proper handshake you had to be confident, so I had just reversed the order of things, Giving him a proper handshake gave him a little confidence.

"That's great!" I said and released the kid's hand, and he smiled awkwardly. "Let's try this again, then, eh?" I said and I held my hand out for him to grasp it, and when he did, he had a nice firm grip. I grinned. "I'm Morinozuka Miyako, and you are?" I asked, and his face went slack with the surprise I was expecting him to feel. _He does admire my cousin after all…_

"K-Kasanoda Ritsu." He stuttered and my blood ran cold. I knew the Japanese mafia- or the Yakuza Syndicates- intimately well. I had made it my business to know every single last thing about the Yakuza Syndicates ever since the Sendo clan had murdered my family about half a year ago. Kasanoda was another Yakuza clan. I had never even given the other Yakuza clans other than the Sendos a second thought, other than their relations with the Sendos, but it had never transferred onto them personally.

But this- this was a shock. This was a kid. My age, shy, awkward and endearing- a normal teenager- and it made me think. He had a father, and uncles and older brothers. Before Haruhi had found me close to death in that alley, before Kyoya had saved my life, before I had found Takashi again- before the Hitachiin twins had changed my life forever- I would've killed him without a second thought. "Miyako?"

Suddenly I remembered that I was holding Kasanoda's hand, and that I was sitting on the couch with him after teaching him how to shake a person's hand properly like a normal person. His voice broke me out of all of that, and I stood abruptly and tore my hand from his before turning on my heel and marching out of the room before I did anything strange.

_I would've killed him, and he is just a normal kid like me._ My world was fracturing around me, and starting to shatter into millions of tiny pieces. So I ran.

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**A/N:** Heh, heh, heh (evil laugh)... Evil cliffie... review and I might update faster.


	21. It Wasn't Enough

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** *dodges flying potatoes* Eep! Sorry I haven't updated in so long everyone! I just got caught up in a lot of everything, and I lost my enthusiasm for this fic for a little while! *gets beaned in the forehead with a sweet potatoe* Ow. *rubs* My enthusiasm's back now, so don't worry! *cricket* *sigh* Well, I hope you like this chapter.

R&R!

**"It Wasn't Enough"**

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"Miyako!" Kasanoda called out after my cousin in confusion and worry, standing up from the couch as she all but ran out through the doors, oblivious to his voice. I pitied him in a way- for his confusion of not knowing what was running through her head at that moment. He just didn't know her.

"It's not your fault, you know." Kasanoda swiveled on his heels to face Kyoya and the rest of us as he advanced on him. Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose. "Her personal history only indirectly involves you after all." Kyoya paused in the space half-way in between Kasanoda and the rest of us. There was a decidedly stony mood hanging around the twins and Tamaki, although Hunny was hanging off of my shoulder feeling suitably sad after having watched our cousin and Kasanoda interact, and the twins had an unmistakable unforgiving air hanging around them as they were glaring slightly at the red-head. He gaped at us cluelessly.

"W-what?" He stuttered. "What's wrong with her? What did I do?" Kyoya frowned at him and turned to look at me with a worried questioning look. I nodded and sent him a look that said: _'don't tell him too much.'_ – before I gently disengaged Hunny from my shoulder and left the room- following Miyako where my instincts told me she had gone.

Standing outside the closed doors of the third music room, I closed my eyes and tuned out all the unnecessary noise and wayward energies, focusing solely on the trail of the emotional energies of my blood cousin. _There she is._ Her emotions were painful and chaotic, bewildered and repressed. I opened my eyes and stared blankly down the hallway in front of the door. She had been trying to get herself lost and had headed off to the Rose Maze outside in the courtyard behind the school. Karma had hit her over the head with Kasanoda Ritsu and she was dealing with the consequences. The thing was, you can't run away from everything.

I started off down the corridor, following her at my own pace, and analyzing the emotional trail that she left behind. I was standing outside the Rose Maze before I surmised her feelings and generalized them into what others of her martial art would call it.

An 'Assassin's Regret'. If I could hazard a guess, right now she was seeing the faces of all the people she had killed flash by in her mind, and thinking about how their families must've reacted to the news of their deaths, if they had one. Right now, the thought that they had tried to kill her first didn't even register. All that she knew at the moment, was that she had killed them.

I turned the corner, and there she was, curled up into a ball and staring blankly at the opposite rose hedge from where she was sitting. I sighed and sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. At a time like this, I could only be there for her.

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Kasanoda sat on the opposing couch from the rest of the host club, slumping forward with his elbows braced on his knees, his fingers laced together and a very serious look on his face.

"So that's what happened…" He growled quietly under his breath, looking off to the side. Kyoya and the twins had told him everything they knew about Miyako, otherwise known as 'Night Rose'. They told him about how her family had been murdered by the Sendo Syndicate, and how she was the only survivor of that night. They told him about how she had gone about saving others from the same Sendo Syndicate, exacting her revenge as she did so. They told him everything. "So she's the Legendary Night Rose. I had wondered why she didn't kill anyone from the other Syndicates." His eyes narrowed without warning, and if he had heat vision, the arm of the couch would've burst into flames. He growled. "I always knew that those Sendos were sadistic, but I never thought they'd go far enough to kill her entire family just because her father refused to teach them their martial art for the blackness of their souls." He growled under his breath again, and the Host club was now watching him warily. "Sadistic demons…" He sighed angrily and looked up at the rest of the host club, leaning back on the couch, making the gentler hosts wince. "I can still remember the night those bastards killed her family."

There was a stunned silence in the room as the host club processed what he said with wide, astonished eyes. Kasanoda glared at the ceiling before looking back down at them.

"Just know-" He said honestly. "- that I had done everything I could've to stop them. But even that wasn't enough."

"So what's your side of the story?" Hikaru asked stonily, and Kasanoda looked at him in exasperation.

"It's a long story."

"We have time." Kasanoda turned to look at Kyoya, who was pushing his glasses up and sighed.

"A year ago, it was well known fact that the Sendo Syndicate wanted power, and that they would do anything to get it…"

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**A/N:** Stay tuned for Kyoya's side of the story! R&R!


	22. The Value of Life

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** Hiya guys. Another update, another day. I hope it's not too short for your liking, and I thought I'd mention something I forgot to say last chapter. I'm currently working on an original story called 'MaryAnne's Academy for Charming Young Men' and I'm hoping to have it published someday, so it's taking up most of my time, since I need to create the world before I write the story.

Well, enjoy the chapter and R&R!

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"It was late August when I heard the news about the Sendo syndicate planning to confront the outcast Morinozuka family who knew the most powerful and most secretive martial art in the world- planning on taking their power for themselves. I had heard about them and their strict codes and I knew that they wouldn't teach such impure people like the Sendos, since they only taught faithful students from other martial arts who wouldn't abuse the powers they learned from them. I admired that about them, and sought to prevent their attack when the head of the family refused to teach them, but… we were too late. We had tried to lure them into a trap by agreeing to a truce between our clans, but they saw it for what it was, and the second Morinozuka estate was in flames before we knew of their desertion. We put out the fire as soon as we could, but by the time we got inside, everything was burned, and they were dead."

"I can still see them in my mind. That scene of destruction and the tragic- their sad and untimely deaths. We found the body of the father of the family holding his wife's body peacefully, like he had known his death was coming and could not escape. The oldest son looked unaware of his death, as did the twin sisters, curled up in each other's arms." Kasanoda sighed sadly, and the host club apart from Kyoya looked moved by the sadness of his story of Miyako's family's deaths.

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Miyako had started to lean into me a little while ago, so I held her closer. We were in the Rose Maze still, and dusk was starting to fall. When she had moved onto my lap a little while after I had wrapped my arms around her, she had opened herself up to me, so I could read her energy like open book, and her consciousness was swirling all around me, so I did the same, and protected her from all around with my energy, and comforted her the same way.

Being wrapped up in another's energy is similar to being in a womb. Warm and safe, and reminiscent of the ocean, with all the soothing energy swirling at different speeds around you. It's just you and the other you are sharing your energy with, and no one else, nothing else is even considered inside this energy, because inside this energy, you know the one you are sharing your energy with almost better than you know yourself.

Miyako had been listening to my thoughts the whole time, and now I felt her curiosity swell. I wondered if that was how twins felt in the womb, like Hikaru and Kaoru, and Ami and Aya. Just like we felt. I smiled, and my energy turned a little warmer in affection. They probably did. I wrapped an arm around Miyako's back, and one under her legs as I stood up slowly, and she put an arm around my neck. I started to walk slowly, and we started subconsciously drawing our energy back into ourselves with every step I took. We were at the entrance of the Rose Maze before Miyako sighed, and I paused, just inside the hedges.

"He's so young. Kasanoda. He's my age- our age, and I have killed people like him before." I stood there in silence at Miyako confessed her emotions to me with words. This was nothing trivial at all. "Kasanoda's normal. He's just like you and I. He's a person, shy and unsure of himself, but he's a person nonetheless, yakuza leader or not. It scares me to think. It scares me to think of how I was before I met you all." She said, leaning her head on my shoulder, her eyes gazing distantly through the hedge. "I was driven by revenge, and whenever I came across a member of the Sendo Syndicate, I killed them on the spot before they realized who I was. Admittedly, most of those times I was saving others. Though… if there hadn't been anyone to save, I probably would've killed them anyways. I wanted to make them pay for what they did to my family. But- meeting you again-" Miyako lightly nudged me with her head, and I smiled slightly. "- my family wasn't all gone. It was still alive. My family, and you had Hunny and Satoshi, so they became like my little brothers because you loved them so. Then there was Tamaki, Haruhi and Kyoya. Tamaki freaked me out a bit, but he made me smile again. Haruhi saved my life when I couldn't do it myself. She called Kyoya and got me to the hospital, and through them, I found you again. I missed you so much. So much." Miyako sighed, and I looked at her softly as she thought. "Then there was Kaoru." I nearly blinked. "I wouldn't have known about Hikaru if Kaoru wasn't with him. He was the first time I had ever been truly afraid for someone before I had even seen their face." She paused and looked up at me. "You know how you can recognize me, Hunny or Satoshi by our energy?" She asked and I nodded. "That's how I recognized Kaoru." My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I never met him before, but I knew him like he was another part of my soul." She laughed dryly. "Cheesey, huh? But it's true. I broke into the limo and killed the Sendo imposter in the front because he was threatening someone I loved, though I didn't know it at the time. I brought him and Hikaru home, making sure of their safety along the way, and thanks to them- I now know what it's like to feel alive again." She paused and sighed after a moment. "Now I can feel pain again."

"What?" The word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it, frowning, and she smiled at me.

"I can feel pain. My body can now tell me when something is too much to bear, so I can stop fighting before it's too late. I have a reason to live now. My deadened sense of pain was just an easier way to die." I held Miyako tighter to my chest, where my heart had sped up in it's beat. It was scary, hearing my little cousin talking like that. It was scary knowing that she had wanted to die. Miyako ruffled my hair, and I looked at her, seeing her smile. "But now I have you, and Kaoru, Hunny and everyone else. Because of you, I live." I swallowed and nodded and stepped forward out of the Rose Maze, but before I did, she kissed the top of my head, and I smiled. She was very much alive.


	23. Another Family

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** UPDATED! Finally! XD Read and Review, I hope you like it! Enjoy chapter 23!

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It was the day after I had first met Kasanoda, and the boy in question met us- Takashi, Hunny and I- in front of the school. It was a very silent affair. I had been walking behind Takashi and Hunny as we turned the corner to the school and they slowly come to a stop. Curious, I looked around Takashi's tall frame, and I could not mistake that scarlet hair for anyone else. He looked at me with understanding eyes, and I looked at the ground as guilt made my chest spasm. I couldn't look at him. It didn't feel right. His toffee-colored eyes were just too forgiving. Too understanding. I felt like I owed him something. Like anything he wanted from me, I would give him, because my heart wouldn't let me do otherwise, and I bowed. I heard him inhale sharply through his nose, like he gasped with his mouth shut, surprised. Takashi rested his hand carefully on my back.

"I am sorry-" I spoke formally to Kasanoda, and watched his feet move as he straightened, as if by a force of habit. "-That I reacted the way I did towards you yesterday. You weren't-" I paused, mulling over my words and the situation we were in yesterday. "-quite what I expected." I stayed bowed as Kasanoda searched for words to respond to my apology, but then I heard the whistle created by an RFO- a rapidly falling object- and my eyes widened as I gritted my teeth for a split second before I lunged. I was in the perfect position, really, as I reached up to wrap my arms around Kasanoda's waist in a rugby tackle, pushing him and myself out of the RFO's decent, as my head had also been in danger from the RFO if it shattered upon impact with the ground.

With a whoosh, thump, crash and a startled cry from Kasanoda, he landed squarely on his rump about two feet away from where we had been standing originally, myself lying over his legs and the shattered and messy remains of a potted plant behind us as I rose in a crouch to look, my senses on high-alert already. I was protecting- it was natural. Another whistle, and I nearly gave myself whiplash as I jerked my head to look upwards to see the bottom of another potted plant rapidly coming our way. My eyes widened as I tensed. I couldn't block that, and using my energy would practically knock me out-

Before I could finish that thought, I heard a step from behind me, and a whoosh as a blazer-covered arm blurred blue over my head in a chop, connecting with the potted plant and sending it to smash against the wall. I blinked and breathed, relaxing. _Takashi._ Pretty much explained itself really, and I smiled thankfully up at him as I stood and gave Kasanoda a hand, smiling as he looked at me with wide, astonished eyes. He took it, and I hauled him to his feet easily. Normal weight for an average mafia man, fit, and well-toned most likely too. I smiled with serious eyes and inclined my head slightly towards him.

"You have my protection." I said, and Kasanoda, Takashi and Hunny weren't the only ones watching me, although they were the most surprised. My promise was an oath, and not something to be taken lightly. Takashi and Hunny had the same bond. Numb, Kasanoda nodded, accepting it, and I turned to face my cousins grimly, first looking down to meet Hunny's concerned gaze before looking up to meet Takashi's. We were all set on the same thing: We would find the person or persons who did this.

* * *

Kasanoda had some weird idea that somebody was out to get my cousin, Takashi. I wondered how he got that idea in his head, but on another thought, it was probably better if he didn't know. So it was set that Hunny and Takashi would look for whoever was doing this and catch them, and I would stay near Kasanoda to prevent any further attacks upon his person. I did have a history after all. We didn't want to kill whoever was doing this, and at the same time, that trait about myself would insure Kasanoda's safety the most.

I snuggled in on the couch next to Kaoru, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I turned to him to give him some serious loving. His lips are _so_ soft, and he's so _warm_ and solid, and there's just something about kissing him that makes me just want to sneak my hands up under his shirt and-

"Whit-woo!" Wolf whistle and a smattering of laughter, and I blinked before pulling away, Kaoru looking somewhat dazed with reddened lips, and Kasanoda was smirking at his knees while Tamaki was grinning at us, and it was kind of obvious that the wolf whistle had come from Hikaru, and most of the giggles from Hunny. Takashi was just looking the other way, while Haruhi just acted like nothing had happened, though I thought I could see a little bit of a smile in her eyes.

"There's a time and place for everything Rosey, but I think you'll wanna wait until you get home to put your hands up my brother's shirt." Hikaru laughed, and I looked abruptly down at my hands to find that they were indeed just under Kaoru's shirt, and I turned redder than Kasanoda's hair when I realized that I was still absent-mindedly caressing his soft stomach. I went slightly redder when I realized that I _really_ didn't want to stop. I reluctantly removed them, and when I did, Kaoru's eyes cleared, and he pulled me onto his chest, not letting me go, so I smiled and re-arranged myself as everyone continued their previous conversations and I zoned out, absent-mindedly massaging Kaoru's hand.

_I guess…_ I thought to myself. _…we really need to make love…_ A faint pink blush remained on my face as Kaoru wrapped his other arm around my waist and started to rub gentle circles on my belly with his thumb, my back pressed against his chest. The dream I had came to mind then. The one where it was Christmas, and Kaoru and I had two children, just like us, and I smiled somewhat longingly. _To have a family again… a family… _An image came to mind. Maybe it was way too early for me to get an image like this in my head, but it made me get all warm and fuzzy inside, even if it was too early. I saw a picture in my head of Kaoru and I sitting the same way as we were now, but… but… our twins were in the 'oven', and we were both smiling very happily about it, Kaoru's hand resting gently on my stomach, waiting for the babies to kick. I felt a delightful shiver run down my spine, and I rested my head against my love's shoulder and closed my eyes, smiling. I felt him kiss my ear, and I shivered again, making him laugh, and I dozed off there.

_What a beautiful image…_ thought. _Me, Kaoru, and our little twins waiting for us. Dad and mom would've loved to meet them…_ I thought a little sadly, but then I smiled a little. _–But then again, they'd have another family waiting for them…_ I thought, and I imagined Tamaki sitting beside us and positively glowing, and Hikaru with his arms around Haruhi with a hand on her little belly, and Takashi with a little son, and Hunny wanting to feel for the babies. Then- with Kasanoda standing a little ways away in the shadows, smiling at us as a little, while a little, scarlet-haired girl climbed a tree. _What a wonderful image…_


	24. The Villians

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

**A/N:** So this is it. The story is drawing to a close. I'll post a few more chapters after this one, to wind it down, and I'll give you an epilouge too. please review and tell me what you think.

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Takashi found the culprits. As it turned out, it was a good idea for me to guard Kasanoda rather than trying to find them. The reason? They were Sendos. Ones I recognized from the day they murdered my family. Just from looking at them, I wanted to kill them. It all started when they kicked a can of paint.

"Watch out!" I had walked out with Kasanoda into the garden to check on his sparrow when he left the room, and I had been standing beside him when Haruhi had come out to see what he was doing. I jerked my head up to see what Hunny was yelling about and saw him kick the can in mid-air, sending it on a spin, sloshing paint everywhere although effectively altering it's course, and instinctually, I thrust my hands out and formed a slight shield around the can, doing my best to keep the paint inside, though a bit did escape and ruin Haruhi's jacket.

"Ah!" I didn't lose my concentration at Haruhi's startled yell, but I did look around after I had made sure the paint can had landed when I heard the bird tweet and the sound of wings flapping. I had to smile at the look on Kasanoda's face. So sweet. Then, of course Tamaki had to ruin the mood by yelling about the paint and mistaking it for blood. I just rolled my eyes and looked the other way.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" My eyes narrowed as I looked around and found the source of the noise. Then I froze. At the sight of the two Sendo mafia men, memories from the night they killed my family flashed across my mind. I remembered seeing their faces on the other side of the flames.

"You big behemoth!" I was shaking, trembling with fury, and I could feel myself baring my teeth in rage as my vision tunneled and turned red. _**I'll kill them.**_ I snarled as I grabbed for a knife that wasn't there, and I growled when I had no weapon, lunging for their throats.

I felt a half-size foot kick the back of my thighs, making them spasm before planting themselves into the back on my knees and standing there, forcing me to my knees on the ground, and I growled under my breath, not struggling much because of the threatening grip on my pressure points. The thugs shut up when they saw me before starting to glare mutinously.

"Well if it isn't a rat we missed." The blonde one growl and choked as Takashi tightened his hold on his neck threateningly.

"**I SHOULD USE YOU FOR **_**TARGET PRACTICE!"**_ I bellowed furiously, and a flock of bird twittered and took off from a nearby tree in fright. The thugs didn't react. "**MURDERERS! FILTH! SCUM! **_**I'LL **__**KILL**__**YOU**_**! KILL-!"** A hand karate-chopped the side of my neck, just under my skull, and darkness took me, my anger resonating hollowly inside me.

* * *

I watched with a critical eye as Hunny-senpai knocked his cousin out and caught her before she fell. The two thugs that Mori caught were from the Sendo Syndicate, and judging by Miyako's reaction to them, I felt that I could safely guess that she recognized them from the day her family was murdered. It wasn't pushing it too far to reason that those two thugs were a couple of the ones who killed them, given what they had said as well. I gritted my teeth as Miyako's words resonated through my head. _Murderers! Filth! Scum! I'll __kill__ you!_ Murderers. These two thugs were a couple of the ones I had failed to stop, and realizing that made me very angry. They needed to be punished, but I couldn't lose myself to my rage like Miyako had. It wouldn't get me anywhere.

I watched as Mori and Hikaru tied up the two thugs while Hunny handed Miyako over to Kaoru, and I took in my surroundings, naturally scanning the area for other dangers out of habit. I wouldn't let something like this slip past my radar again.

"H-Hunny-senpai?" I looked over at Kaoru as he stuttered slightly, looking carefully at the smaller boy. He looked completely lost. "W-why? What just happened?" Hunny looked like he didn't know how to answer that, and I stepped off the dais and closer to them, my hands in my pockets.

"Those men are from the Sendo Syndicate." I explained, and Kaoru and Hunny looked up at me, where I was watching the two men struggling, bound by the ropes. "They're a couple of the ones who killed Miyako's family, so I'd be surprised if she hadn't reacted like she did." I could see the grim realization dawn on Kaoru's face even from my peripheral vision, as he held his lover closer to him. _No wonder she reacted like that._ A thought struck me, and I frowned. "Why are they here, anyways?" I asked, and I looked around for an answer.

"They were after you, Kasanoda." I looked at Hunny-senpai in surprise.

"Me?" I asked in surprise, and Hunny-senpai nodded sadly.

"We had decided not to say anything until we had caught the culprits, to avoid having any kind of disturbance, but…" Hunny-senpai trailed off sadly as he watched Kaoru gently cradle Miyako's limp form, and I nodded slightly. The hidden message was clear.

"You dumb-asses!" I looked up as I recognized that voice, and saw Tetsuya kick the two Sendo men on the chests, knocking them over. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Sonny!"

"That's enough of your mis-placed blame! Don't you get it yet that I left because I was sick of hanging with the likes of you! Get lost already, will ya!" Without another word, the Sendo men turned on their sides and squirmed away. I blinked in surprise. _They just… did what he said._ Usually you had to have some sort of influence over mafia men to make them obey your orders.

"Tetsuya, you're…" I couldn't really put it together, as mind-boggled as I was at the moment, but I walked toward him as he turned around, his face losing it's anger as he looked at me before kneeling. I blinked.

"I'm terribly sorry for not telling you. I am Sendo Tetsuya, son of the godfather of the Kanto branch of the Sendo Syndicate." My blood froze for a second when I heard that, and I looked over at Kaoru to see him watching and listening to us carefully with a frown on his face as he held Miyako in his arms, still limp and thoroughly knocked out. I don't know what I had expected. Maybe for her to wake up and kill my right-hand man without a second thought? That was impossible, and I knew it. "I have long been opposed to the any-means-necessary methods of the Sendo Syndicate, and at length, one rainy day a year ago, I got into a big blow-up with my old man, and ran away from home." I turned back to watch Tetsuya as he spoke, and I felt myself relaxing bit by bit as I listened to his story. If he didn't tell Miyako who he was right off the bat and let her get to know him, he wouldn't be in any danger. After all, he was only slightly closer to the original family who had killed her own than I was, and she protected me. I sighed and rested my weight onto one leg as he looked up at me, waiting for what I was going to say.

"You're lucky." I said, and he looked at me in confusion. I looked at him with a soft look, and settled back, waiting. "That blow-up with your old man. What was it about?" I asked, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mori and Hunny-senpai stiffen as they put it together too. _A year ago._ Tetsuya's gaze darkened and he looked down at the cobbles of the courtyard.

"We were fighting about the estranged Morinozuka family. He wanted to make them pay for not teaching us their martial art, and I was against it. In the end, I couldn't do much." I sighed and smiled, going down on one knee so that I was on Tetsuya's level, and I put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at me in surprise.

"That's good." I said, and I meant it. I frowned slightly. "One of the Morinozukas escaped death that night." I said, and Tetsuya's face lit up with hope. "The eldest daughter, Miyako. She was filled with rage and swore revenge on the Sendos for killing her family, and she managed it for quite some time." Tetsuya's face was now somewhat anxious as he listened to me, and I hadn't removed my hand from his shoulder yet, just holding him there. "-but then she saved the Hittachiin twins, and they brought her here, where she found her cousin Mori, and she put down her old life and became one of them, though the scars never really healed." I took my hand off his shoulder as I stood and gestured for Tetsuya to do the same as I stood next to him and directed his gaze towards where Miyako lay limply in Kaoru's arms, causing him to hold her closer.

"You've heard of her before." I said, and Tetsuya looked at me in confusion. "She called herself 'Night Rose'." Tetsuya's jaw dropped open and he gaped as he looked at her.

"She is?" he asked in surprise, and I nodded grimly. Tetsuya mouthed like a fish out of water before he managed to close it, and he looked at her with a newfound respect and sadness. "Wow." He said quietly. "So I finally see her." He said and paused. "Why is she out cold?" I sighed.

"Those two men you sent away? She recognized them." Tetsuya's eyebrows met in the middle in a frown. "Hunny-senpai had to knock her out." He nodded, understanding. "When she wakes up, don't tell her your family name. Let her get to know you first." Tetsuya looked at me for a moment, reading my intentions, and finally nodded, understanding. Then he started slightly and I looked at him before he reached into his bag and brought out an umbrella, holding it out to me.

"Oh, right. Here. The weather is turning bad, so please take this. If our 4th were to get a cold, everyone would worry." He said with a little smile in his eyes. _Everyone would worry… oh god… they care about me…_ I thought, and I couldn't fight the smile that rose as I took it, and I tried to hide my blush.

"I-I will use it then."

"Right." I looked around and realized that he wasn't here, and started a little.

"Oh. I should apologize to Fujioka." I said. "It's 'cause of me he got paint all over him."

"Haru-chan went to the clubroom, to change." Hunny-senpai said, and I turned to look at him. "We should take Miyako inside too." He suggested, and I looked over in time to see Kaoru struggling to stand under her body mass. It wasn't like she was fat or anything. The two were just the same size, and lifting someone your own size can be difficult at the best of times. Without a word, Mori walked over and took her in his arms, Kaoru still holding onto her hand. I smiled a little. _True love. _ I thought. _He doesn't want to let her go, even when she's safe in another's arms._ Looking at them made me feel a little warm inside. _There's something you don't see every day…_


End file.
